One inch.

It is amazing how much damage one inch can make when it is water in the wrong place.

At first, it shocks you.

How did it get there and how much damage can it do?

Then when you realize the damage, you immediately feel lucky that it was only one inch.

From Labor Day weekend 2019 to Thanksgiving weekend 2019, I experienced three separate occasions when water damaged one of my homes. Each time, the reaction was the same. The difference was the intensity.

Surprise. Shock. Unrest. Exhaustion.

The first and last were plumbing issues – a leaky pipe that was stopped with a valve, and the only damage was to flooring and sheetrock, which are easily fixed.

It was the second that took me by surprise. It had not rained since my move to Austin in August. It came a downpour on a Thursday evening late in October as I sat in a salon chair for the first time since my move. The rain was badly needed. As was my haircut. As the heavy downpour started to lift, I started home.

After I moved in, I saw water marks on the garage walls one evening when the night light hit the walls just right. So, I had already placed all of the garage boxes up on shelves just in case the garage flooded.

When I arrived home after the haircut, I was not surprised to see flood water already entering the garage. Then, as I entered the duplex I found water. An inch had come in so far from the front wall. I placed blankets, lots of blankets, on it to keep it from spreading. The front bedroom was full of boxes in stacks of up to 4 or 5 or 6 high that I had just moved in the weekend before.

A panic set in. I had no idea what was in the boxes on the bottom of those stacks. Photos? Irreplaceable valueables? Oh please no - not the violins. 

I quickly moved the boxes to higher ground before the wet on the bottom collapsed the stacks. As the rain slowed, I worked quickly to relocate upstairs as much as possible to reduce damage. After working as hard as I could for a few hours, I sat down to rest. Then it hit.

I was shocked. In disbelief. Unsettled. Overwhelmed.

Even though I had lived in Houston all of my life and had seen many neighbors’ and friends’ homes flood, I immediately realized that I previously had no proper empathy for how they felt. I myself had never had a home flood before. It is a realization of complete lack of control and an acceptance of mother nature’s rules of order that have just taken over your life. 

I only lost a few personal items, most of the damage can be easily replaced. Most, but not my grandfather’s hand-whittled 100-year old violin. That…cannot be replaced. But overall, I am lucky.

I have since discovered that previous flooding does not have to be disclosed for rental property in the state of Texas.

Luckily, I was released from the contract and found a new rental on the south side of town. I am settled and in a good place.

I am now living the saying that life is what happens despite your best plans. Life can only be appreciated. Not planned. Expect the unexpected. Learn to respect Mother Nature. And take nothing for granted.

I also now have renewed empathy for those who flood.

Anyone living in rental property deserves to know if the place they just moved all of their possessions into previously flooded. This sounds to me like a change in policy needs to be addressed. 

One inch has changed my whole outlook on life. 
To be continued...