Santa Clara Flood 2012– Tim & Tammy Apple and Jones’

Tim and Tammy were living next door to the Taylor’s in her father’s rental.  Like the Taylor’s, they had recently lost their home.  As I pulled up in front of their house on day 2 to let Tim know that my husband would be by to pull their counter’s off so they could try and save them, I saw Tammy walk into a place of shade on the only empty spot on a sidewalk next to her house and lay down on her back.  I could see exhaustion and emotion in her face.

 

I needed to find Tim and was told that he was in his father-in-law’s house next door.  So I headed there first.  Here is Tammy’s parents house when I came up:

Kids from the high school had been there to start unloading their basement.  Just before I got there, a few women who had stopped to help had realized that the smell was really bad and that the sewer had either backed up or broke in the basement, so they had the kids leave to keep them from getting any bugs of any kind.  It was a mess in the front yard, which was still wet and full of mud.

This kind man was power washing some of the stuff coming up from the basement.  Eventually this yard would be filled to the brim with more muddy items from the basement.

(This photo was the next day– Day 3 and there was still a ton of stuff in the yard and it smelled so bad just driving by.  I wondered if they’d EVER get rid of that smell.)

I walked into their house to see if I could see Tim.  What I found was just as sad as the outside.  Trying to find places to put things or even to try and keep your food and dishes was a stretch, but the muddy carpet and floor left me just sad to see all the inside damage.  I hadn’t really been in any houses besides the Dunkley’s at that point.

 

As I walked out that doorway, I saw Tammy laying on her back on the sidewalk.  I sat next to her.  She sat up and I just hugged her and held her as she cried.  All I could tell her was that I knew things would get better and good was coming her way.  She was exhausted and overwhelmed.  Her house was cleaned out except for the cabinets and counters that my hubby was coming to remove.  Fortunately, their house was one of the ones that was helped first, so they were cleaned out pretty quickly compared to the others.

 

She cried as she told me she was sad to lose her grandmothers suitcase and some treasures that belonged to her.  Those were the cherished things.  She said she shouldn’t be sad because it was stuff, but it was sentimental stuff.  After talking for a bit and her telling me of some of the things she lost, her daughter came walking up and asked what she was supposed to wear to school tomorrow.   That shot an arrow straight to my heart.  I hadn’t even thought about that.  Most of the kids that lived in these homes did not have a stitch of clothing to wear to school.  They only that the clothes and shoes they had on the day before.  Tammy was lucky because so many friends from their old ward came down and helped them.  They had taken all their clothing to wash and it was scattered among so many houses.   She didn’t even know where it all was or when it would come back.  (I did hear that some of those ward members went out and bought new garments and some clothes for them all.)

 

A few minutes later my husband came walking up. Tammy took me on a tour of the house to see the damage.  My hubby and his employee, Randy, started pulling their new counters out that they had just installed a few weeks before.   When they unscrewed the cabinets and moved them, I was stunned to see a inch of wet, watery mud underneath them.  (I did not get a picture because my battery was dead.  Still makes me mad.)   I was just surprised at how the mud had seeped into every crevice of these homes– literally between the studs in the wall.  The concern Tim and Tammy had was if they were going to have to pull out the brick wall and floor where the wood stove stood.  They were worried about mud being backed up in the walls behind it.

 

My heart was heavy that day.  So much mess.  So much smell.  So much to do.  I was overwhelmed and it wasn’t mine.  I wondered if they’d find some clothes.  They were all staying in different places.  The kids with their friends and Tim and Tammy with some other family that lived in town.

 

When I was making salsa rounds with Robbin the next week, Tim and Tammy happened to be in the garage at their house.   We had heard some news about them just before we got there and were able to confirm the miracle.   Evidently a family in Country Lane had a home for their son to live in.  He was going through an ugly divorce and was having to live back East because of it.  The house was sitting empty and they were hoping to find someone to keep the yards up.  They offered this house to Tim and Tammy rent free for a few months.  I looked at Tammy and said, “SEE!!  I TOLD you there was something good coming your way!!”   She said, “you know this actually happened the next day after you talked to me.”

 

I still tear up thinking about this whole exchange and the miracle.

 

There have been many miracles among the mud.  I am so thankful that as I sat on the sidewalk that day that I KNEW something good was coming.  I had no idea what.   But sometimes hope is all one needs to believe.