Speaking of "can't help"...
Some of you have probably seen on the news / internet /whatever about the "historic flooding" in the Panhandle of Florida, and particularly in the Pensacola area.
Some of you may even know that I used to live there.
My mom still does. She can testify to the fact that the flooding is indeed historic, because her house - which has survived hurricanes with barely a scratch, and which even historic rainmaker Hurricane Frederick, back in 1979, was unable to flood - was ankle-deep in water. It had never even gotten water in the garage before.
Her whole house will have to be redone. Drywall soaks up water like a sponge, and so does insulation - especially decades-old insulation. It will be months before she's able to move back in. She's already had her carpet pulled out so that the retained moisture in that won't increase the humidity inside the house to the point that even the ceilings will have to be ripped down to the studs. She'll be effectively homeless until then.
Not that she'll have a problem finding a roof to lay her head! She's already got several offers for a place to stay. The problem is her two cats (formerly mine.) None of the offers so far have included someplace that she can bring them along. I offered to put them up until the place can get fixed back up, but with five cats of my own and some of them not getting along too well, it's hard to say how all parties would react to the two of them coming back into the fold for a while. She's trying to find someone local who can put them up for a while.
I can't get down there. The major roads have closures, the minor/county roads are just now starting to get assessed for damage, and some of the flooding is still covering the roadways. I'm not going to do her any good getting myself hurt or killed trying to get there, and I'll do my own cats a lot of harm by leaving them homeless.
This SUCKS.
Some of you may even know that I used to live there.
My mom still does. She can testify to the fact that the flooding is indeed historic, because her house - which has survived hurricanes with barely a scratch, and which even historic rainmaker Hurricane Frederick, back in 1979, was unable to flood - was ankle-deep in water. It had never even gotten water in the garage before.
Her whole house will have to be redone. Drywall soaks up water like a sponge, and so does insulation - especially decades-old insulation. It will be months before she's able to move back in. She's already had her carpet pulled out so that the retained moisture in that won't increase the humidity inside the house to the point that even the ceilings will have to be ripped down to the studs. She'll be effectively homeless until then.
Not that she'll have a problem finding a roof to lay her head! She's already got several offers for a place to stay. The problem is her two cats (formerly mine.) None of the offers so far have included someplace that she can bring them along. I offered to put them up until the place can get fixed back up, but with five cats of my own and some of them not getting along too well, it's hard to say how all parties would react to the two of them coming back into the fold for a while. She's trying to find someone local who can put them up for a while.
I can't get down there. The major roads have closures, the minor/county roads are just now starting to get assessed for damage, and some of the flooding is still covering the roadways. I'm not going to do her any good getting myself hurt or killed trying to get there, and I'll do my own cats a lot of harm by leaving them homeless.
This SUCKS.