Guest Writer - Experience of a Flood - By Raza

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A new segment here on the Preppers Online official Steemit Channel and we have a member of the Prepper Discord Server who was affected by a flood. We encouraged them to write about it so that others could know what they may expect and to prepare for, should flooding occur where they are.

Here is their account in their own words.

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So it’s been suggested I write up the experiences I had last year, so here it goes….

July of 2017, it was to be a pretty nice day out, expected the day to also be like any other. Well this one morning, I get woken up by 5:30 am by my dad saying that we were flooded. I figured this could be a joke. So I get up and my mom tells me to stay put. Well, curiosity got the better of me and I looked outside and we were in fact flooded.

But wait let me back it up a bit, earlier that year we were getting minor flood breaks from the irrigation ditch near us. Just enough to say the ditch over flowed and flood irrigated part of our pasture. It didn’t help we had all of the rodent holes also getting flooded by these minor breaches, which we figured after four times we had it all figured out, but this was not the case. Didn’t think much of it at the time, but if we speed it up a couple of months to the flood itself, here is my experience with it.

I woke up at 5:30 am to realize we were indeed flooded, got my irrigation boots on as it is a stable footwear where I live. The sun was peeking itself up over the mountains, so first light was coming. As I walked throughout our property, I found myself astonished and surprised to find that our entire property, even part of the road was under knee height flood water. Normally, I would not be concerned but it flooded our driveway, under our house (which took roughly 3+ months to dry out with fans), our barnyard area. It also came half an inch from flooding inside our house. Both of our pastures were flooded with very dirty water from farm ground run off.. Even our chickens at the time, though not even feathered at a week old the little chickens flew up to the perch swinging there little wings to gain lift, managed to get up high enough and safe to the perch above the 12 inches of flood water, they are fine. Our back chicken pen had twenty broiler chickens in it but they managed to get up to the perches above the water, it took days for it to drain but weeks for it to dry out, the humidity in there raised the heat a alot. The water container the chickens had also was floating away.

Things were made worse when we found out that this flood also affected our septic system (which after several more months and a few weeks after the top layer of the ground froze due to it being cold, we finally got fixed), and our main water supply, was also contaminated. Both our primary garden area and our secondary garden area were sufficiently drenched. We grow non GMO food and ORGANIC!. Well after this flood we can no longer claim our food is organic. But I walked out thinking this whole situation was really cool but I found out when I stepped out into the muddiest part of the back garden that it was like quicksand and I sank down to my knee, it was hard to pull it out but I got pulled back.

I was still reeling from all this, my parents as well. We got everything drained with the help of the ditch rider. Who later told us that the moss that grew up from the bottom of the irrigation ditch had swirled itself up into a massive ball and released itself, clogging up the culvert so much that it caused water to be backed up, not just for our property but also four other properties, their fields just were flooded.

The humor behind this is that two weeks prior, I had cleaned up the goat stall of its manure and took it out, then a few weeks later this happened. The goats were stuck on small hills around a 366x36 goat stall. The water seeped in through the cracks at the base of our barns foundation and it ended up getting around twelve inches of water inside, but it was deeper outside. To make sure I could get in there to clean it out properly, I had to dig ditches in the barnyard to drain the water into the field next to us. I did the best I could but the goats were stuck outside for the next two nights while it dried out inside, and they were also stuck sleeping on a makeshift dirt mound we had outside which was not touched by the flood. Once there they seemed happy and content. On the third day, I spent the next few hours hauling dirt and putting it inside the stall to raise it up.

We did get some help from close friends when we needed it, like showers offered at their homes, or bottles of water when we couldn’t get it. When things like this happen, it teaches you the hard way who you really can depend on for help. It isn’t always family!. Don’t depend on the insurance company for help either. You should start your own emergency fund for repairs.

So winter came and we used bottled water from the town well and heated it on the stove for the animals. Then my mother and I carried it by buckets out to the animals to melt the ice that formed and depending on how cold it was, it took only thirty minutes to refreeze. I used to really HATE using the hose to water because it always got tangled up, kinked, you name it!, now I miss the use of the hose. You never really know what you will miss until you don’t have it anymore. I am all for doing this but I really miss my hose.

Three weeks after the flood our horse got really sick. I found her one morning covered in sweat. It had pooled into the middle of her swayed back and her breathing became labored. I didn’t know at the time that the horse ended up with a twisted stomach from eating toxic grass from the flood. Horses have one stomach and are unable to process the grass as easily as other animals can who have four stomachs. So the horse ended up getting really bad gas trapped inside of her with no way for it to come out, we ended up having two vets come out to check on her. In the end, we were forced to put her down. We did get help from that same irrigation ditch rider to bury the horse. So when this happens and keep the animals in there pens for the next couple weeks so the grass has a chance to dry out.

When you think of destructive things to prepare for, have a plan to deal with it but keep in mind that even the minorest of situations can cause the most major damages, when this happens take pictures of everything you can. All the of the damages, everything, then get a lawyer and let the lawyer deal with it. You have proof of damage.

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Writers Note: We had too many animals to leave the house, moving them would have been too difficult. My mother invested in six 30 gallon water barrels but never used them. We needed them to carry water from town, we also dehydrate our own food, so we didn’t have to leave to go into town. The money saved from food preservation could be used elsewhere. Our electric bill also didn’t go up too much from running all the fans, we did eventually dry out the bottom of the house though so no mold formed. We also ended up having to buy 42 gallons of drinking water from the store for ourselves, per month. Plus 125 gallons of water from town every five days. As of this article it’s been 11 months since this happened. We also didn’t think we were in a flood zone.

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Tips to surviving a flood:

-Have a second water source if possible and learn to distill your own water. Or boil the water for a good 30 minutes to be sure. Normally, if you boil for 20 minutes it’s alright but I would boil for half an hour to be sure.

-Get a good set up so you are at least semi prepared for the possibility of a flood though minor as it could be. If you are unable to shower or use the facilities, I suggest getting a bucket with a toilet lid on it, then buy a camping shower to clean yourself off with. If you prefer to have privacy, get a tarp.

-Go to the junkyard near each of you and go threw it, you might find a lot of treasures to use for preparing incase you ever need too and if your on a budget.

-If you don’t have flood insurance, try to put some cash away incase you need to do repairs like we did and you need them done quickly. If you think there is something wrong with putting cash away their isn’t. It is there incase a rainy day comes around or a emergency arises.

-Get a watershed or invest in one of those shelters from whatever store near you. Something like this to keep your water in it out of the sun, but it also remains cool even during the winter. It will also help keep your stored water thawed, put a space heater inside to keep the water warm. Just make sure you try to raise it off the ground as much as possible.

-Invest in getting a sizable water tank so you can get water from town for your animals in less trips. You can siphon it into the tank to make is easier to water animals and such. If you can raise the tank up a bit so you can access the water spout? Even better.

-Fighting with insurance companies is a long hard process so be ready for the stress and get the best lawyer you can afford.

-The biggest tip I could really give you, the readers, is to prepare for everything and pray you don’t have to use any of it. This means, if you lose electricity use a wood stove for a fire. Burn whatever wood you don’t need.

-I think also that when we have animals and something bad happens, depending on the person, you go for your animals first to make sure they are OK, then you take care of others and yourself last. But at the same time, if you have too many animals and no way to move them quickly, then you either stay or leave them and hope they survive on their own. Release them from there pen’s so they can get to safety then when you get back, hopefully they were loyal enough to know where their home truly is.

-Would like to add also that we were prepared for all sorts of things, earthquakes, civil unrest, trapped in snow bound rural area, all these things, but the one thing we did not count on was flooding let alone being flooded by a irrigation ditch of all things. So when it happened, we had to switch to other alternatives. We did have water stored but it only lasted a week.

-Grab an ice chest and put bottled water and freeze dried food inside, then tie it shut with inner tubes. This way the chest is water tight and it will float as well.

-Do the above and put a first aid kit, food, water, blankets, any special medications and other supplies in it. That you might need in the event of a flood for you and your families (This DOES! Include animals or family pets), then put them someplace you can get to, these two ideas with the ice chest would work if you live in a floodplain.

-When prepping, take into account your own animals, cats, dogs, livestock, whatever the pet may be. They too need to be prepared for, when it comes to first aid for them and there food and water, do the water tight chest ideas above for them. People who survive are OK but animals keep us sane, if we lose them, we lose what grounds us.

Make sure also you have photo ID, Pet names, any identification marks, as well as an AVID Chip for your dogs, cats and such, they are worth $50. As these would help reunite you and your pet and them being chipped in case you lose your pets in an evacuation. Also NEVER! Leave your pets behind in a flood hoping they may survive, because they may not survive. Specially, if no one knows that they are in the house alone.

• Raza 2018