COLUMBIA, SC

Many of you know that Daughter and her family live in Columbia, SC.  Columbia was hit was 24 inches of rain over the weekend due to hurricane Joaquin traveling up the Atlantic coast.  I have had many ask me how they fared and thankfully, they have been high and dry.  That has not been the case for much of the city.

Several months ago, Daughter had planned to meet her 2 sister-in-laws (on SIL's side of the family) somewhere this month.  Daughter's birthday is this month and she will turn 35, her sister-in-law who lives in Colorado Springs turned 30 this year, and her sister-in-law that lives in Midland turned 25 this year.  So, Daughter's mother-in-law wanted to help pay for all 3 of the girls to get together for a weekend.  They decided that Savannah, GA was the place.  The other 2 girls flew into Charleston, Daughter picked them up at the airport and then they all drove over to Savannah.  Their weekend was pretty soggy but nothing like was happening at home while Daughter was gone.

By the time Daughter was headed home, the water system in Columbia had been shut down because it had been compromised with all the flooding.  Fortunately, SIL had filled up their bathtubs for flushing and light bathing.  Daughter was able to stop before she reached Columbia to buy water to last them for a few days. 

There is a nice "little" lake that is in their neighborhood.  It is by one of the roads they use to get to their house once you enter their neighborhood.  The "little" lake became a raging river and washed out the road.  Fortunately, there is another higher entrance into their neighborhood so Daughter could get home and they can get in and out of their neighborhood.

Little lake becoming raging river in their neighborhood.

Forest Drive is one of the big, heavily traveled roads and as you can see from the pic below, it was very much impassable. 

Samaritan Purse, Franklin Graham's organization, has sent volunteers and supplies to help.  The Baptist Men of South Carolina have started arriving to help.  Whole Foods was closed yesterday but put a post on Facebook with a picture showing bottled water in front of their store.  They were offering the water for free on a first come, first serve basis.  They asked that each family only take either 2 1-gallon bottles or 1 case of 24 bottles.  Many others are pitching in to help.

A dam that is close to Daughter broke on Monday.  Fortunately, the water is running away from their house.  But, the area affected is the walking route that their family takes almost every day.  Yesterday, another dam broke and Daughter was told to evacuate quickly.  She told each of the girls to pack some clothes in their backpack to last a couple of days and to hurry.  Fortunately, it was a false alarm.  But, when she got back, she looked in Curly's backpack and here's what she had packed.

Doesn't every emergency need heels and flower-toed flats?

You can tell she is related to me.  She is such a shoe girl.  I mean, come on...........once you are out of harm's way, you have to look cute! Right?  Too funny.

Please keep this city in your prayers.  Some have lost all of their possessions.  Some have lost their lives.  A disaster like this takes a while to get over and to get back to normal.  Pray specifically for their water system to be turned back on soon and free of contamination.  Thanks for everyone's concern about Daughter.  I am truly thankful that they were spared all the devastation.