Downtown Live Oak

While the West burns, Mom’s little town of Live Oak, Florida was flooded with over 20″ of rain from Tropical Storm Debby.

Here’s a quote from their hometown newspaper, The Suwannee Democrat:  Water was up to the roofs at some homes in low lying areas of Live Oak, Fla., on Wednesday. Several feet of water remained around businesses in downtown near the courthouse and many roads were impassable.

Ewwwww! Don’t they know that there is nasty stuff in that water!

…Portions of Interstate 10 in Lake City, Fla., remained closed early Wednesday due to flooding. The Florida Highway Patrol said two sections of the interstate were still under water. Both sections were near the area where the highway intersects with Interstate 75.

Mom tried to go to town this morning.  She drove a short way to where a dip in the road was flooded.  Cars were lined up on the side of the road, waiting to get through one at a time.   A guy in a big truck pulled up next to Mom and told her, “You might make it through this one, but you won’t make it through the next one.”  So Mom turned around and went back home.

Needless to say, the mail is not running there.  And Mom’s worried about an order of new checks that she’s expecting any day.  🙂

When Dad bought the land many years ago, he looked for the highest land in the area.  So although Mom’s land was so sodden that the septic tank flooded, making her plumbing unusable, the house stayed above water.

She did have one of her huge old live oak trees fall onto the property next door — which is completely underwater.

But today the rain has stopped and it’s beginning to drain.  The sun is out.

Just another day in hurricane season in Florida.