Rexburg Flood July 15, 2014

This, dear readers, is more along the lines of news. Two days ago, my college town of Rexburg, Idaho got flooded literally out of the blue. (And I mean "literally" in its true sense.) No one was expecting it. The weather was, for the most part, sun-shiny and warm. I remember thinking on the way between my apartment and campus that it would be nice if it rained. I went in for a little TA work at four, and got done close to five. I stopped by the library to drop off some books about novel-writing, then by the Crossroads for a cheap chicken sandwich since I had plans and no time to make a proper dinner. There's an indoor walkway between the two buildings (which is very convenient when the temperature outside is below zero and the wind is blowing and trying to freeze off people's noses). As I passed through the walkway, I stared out the windows at the rain, which turned to pounding hail. I was glad of the rain, but didn't think much of it or even the hail in July. After all, this is Rexburg. You can expect the unexpected here when it comes to weather. Besides, my little home town in sizzling southern Utah got hit with hail one summer. (It destroyed our poor onions.) So why not Rexburg?

I happened to meet a fellow member of a writers' group. She informed me that our meetings had been cancelled for that evening and the next. Then, I met one of my friends outside the BYU-Idaho Center (imaginative name, I know, but it's a pretty cool building). We hustled to my apartment and sat out under the porch. The cool weather was nice for a change. When the rain started sprinkling us, we decided to go inside since we were working on a project that involved paper. I kept getting distracted, though, by the downpour. It reminded me of rainstorms in Florida. Here's a little video I took:

Then, my roommate called to me to look out back. This is what we saw:

Eventually it dawned on us that some folks might need help. Crazy as Rexburg weather is, this didn't happen every day. So, we went out and found that lots of other students already had the same idea. We were out until about midnight tossing water out of people's basements and lower-level apartments. Some people were probably out later. Of course, somebody ordered pizza at both places we worked at. Pizza is just a given when there's a gathering of LDS college students (or maybe all college students) just like Jell-O salad is a given at any LDS gathering in Utah. At one house, a girl was going around stuffing pizza, doughnuts, and bottled water into people's mouths because nobody would stop working to eat.

By the end of the night, my feet were numb from being wet all that time. It was interesting running home. Not long after I cleaned up and got ready for bed, I got a text from my dad asking if I was alright. Apparently, the flood was on the news.

In the morning, I got up to go to work again, this time for a regular shift. All the teachers and the head secretary of the department were discussing the flood and asking if each other had been affected. Some from Idaho Falls said they hadn't seen any (or much) rain at all. The secretary said that as she had passed by Rigby Lake on the way home from work, people were out sunning and having a good time. So it seems the storm was very isolated. Rexburg is on the slope of a long hill. The water had gathered and swooped down, filling in the low places.

They didn't cancel school. It's an interesting time to have a flood, seeing as finals are next week. To the chagrin of many students, they opened up the testing center again, even though it had been flooded. I received several emails from the school about precautions and information, as well as a plea to teachers to be understanding with students who had been seriously affected by the flood. They opened up one of the buildings as a shelter. Only one building was closed for safety reasons, and it was the same building we would have had our writers' workshop in.

So, that was our adventure for the week. I've experienced lots of interesting weather the last few months, from a couple of tropical storms in Florida to a freak snowstorm in southern Utah to this. It's always good to be prepared and ready to pitch in. My family has a tradition, encouraged by the leaders of the church, of keeping 72-hour kits and food storage, updating them periodically. Our hometown has a brilliant system in place in case of emergencies. The city is divided into districts, largely based on the LDS ward boundaries, since they are already organized. Each district has a chairperson and is divided into blocks. Block captains have been assigned. They gather information on everyone's area of expertise that could be helpful in an emergency and on people's special needs that would require particular attention. Every household has a little doorknob tab with a green side for "OK" and a red side for "Help!" In case of a natural disaster or other such emergency, the block captain goes out to check for anyone that needs help. Then, they report to the district chair, who reports to the city. That way, the city knows exactly where to send professional help. Every few months, the block captains meet to get training and update information. Every year in September, the city conducts a drill. The block captains send out notices about the drill to everyone, along with other helpful information.

Hopefully, when something happens, we'll be able to bypass a lot of problems with this system. Confusion only amplifies the danger. There is also comfort in knowing that an organized system is in place and that someone will be there to check on you and your family and see that help gets to you if needed.

It's a lot like the church is organized. We have a system in place so that ideally, everyone is looked after by each other. We see to each other's temporal, emotional, and spiritual needs through visiting teaching, home teaching, and such. It's neat to know that wherever you go, whatever ward you're part of, you don't have to be alone. It's just another way of God showing all his children that he loves them.