Memorial Day Rain

After a Saturday night and Sunday that was less than perfect, Monday was a good day to stay close to home. There was still plenty of rain in the forecast. The Blanco River had risen 28 feet in Wimberley in an hour last night and had washed off a few homes with people in them. Closer to home, I went to Central Market and the park where the kids play was a disaster. 

So was my head. I was beginning to think that this couldn't all be a hangover and maybe I had come down with something but Jo was having none of it. The kids chilled and colored each other's faces with grease pencils. I cooked Bangla comfort food - red snapper maach bhaja and musoor dal. Jo walked to Upper Crust for a meeting. It started raining. 

Over the next four hours it rained slightly more than five inches. Jo and the kids organized their toys and filled several boxes of toys to give away. I sat and stared into space and tried not to move or tax my brain and swore never to drink again if this was how it was going to make me feel two days later. And marveled at how much it was raining. The street outside was a river. 

When it stopped raining we got into the car and drove down to our little wooden bridge. The neighborhood streets were swarming with people and kids. Like ants after a downpour, we were all outside, gawking at the creeks. Then we drove a couple of blocks down to Shoal Creek. It had subsided by at least six feet judging from the debris but it was still a raging mess.

Evan and Vivian wanted Whole Foods noodles for dinner. We started heading in that direction and Jo started getting videos from Jen that showed parts of Austin underwater. By the time we got to Lamar, it was obvious that Shoal Creek had done some damage. We passed a couple of cars that looked like they had floated off the street. There were tree trunks and debris everywhere. Up ahead the road was closed. We turned around and settled for EZ's for dinner. The local news was on. Shoal Creek had indeed flooded it's banks into Lamar between Pease Park and Whole Foods. Goodwill (now in the original flood-prone Whole Foods location), Shoal Creek Cafe, and Whole Earth Provision Co apparently had over six feet of water flowing in them. The Fire department had rescued several people by boat.  An epic Memorial Day weekend of storms.