It was raining--but not horribly when we left. I noticed we had a flash flood warning--but they don't usually amount to much and hey--I lived 3 years in Miami--they have LOTS of rain! (Plus 3 years in Seattle--we were eternally waterlogged LOL) About half way there we hit some pretty good pockets of rain and I had to really be careful driving (especially when other cars were off the road or spun backwards on the freeway) but still didn't think much of it. You know "crazy drivers who speed" LOL! We did a few of our errands only getting marginally wet but while we were in Michael's--it just opened up and POURED! We got drenched getting back to the car and ended up freezing in the restaurant with the air conditioning and soaking wet clothes! I still didn't think much about it--since we were used to rain. I guess that would be mistake #2--number #1 being--going to town in the first place during the rainstorm LOL!
We normally get to Austin through a little country road--but Kimmy needed to go to a concert that night so I decided it would be quicker to run down the interstate (mistake #3!) I hadn't caught the news that 35 was CLOSED! Part way home we hit TRAFFIC!! It was absolutely backed up! I was able to get off on a frontage road but eventualy it backed up too. You know it's a bad sign when there are news crews all the way up the roadway. I finally hit the exit for the little town of Salado. I decided we would cut through there and hopefully make it home. NOPE! The little river in Salado was now a HUGE river in Salado that had overflowed the banks, covered the bridge and was what was stopping the interstate with water over it also. Blech! Now what? Well, first things first...of course I have to get out of the car...slip and slide over the icky mud so I can take a picture *grin*
This is what used to be a cute little pool of water around a mermaid statue. I had taken the kids recently and the drought was so bad there was just the statue and some slimy stagnant water. NOTHING like the raging river that was all the way from one house up the bank to the other house up the other bank (and the parking lot...and their yards...) The kids watched in awe as trees and BIG branches went whooshing past them!
Well, with the interstate out...and the Salado road out...what now? I asked a couple of the bystanders if they knew another way. One lady gave me directions through massive amounts of country roads...but when I got to the connector road--this is what I saw! Cones not allowing us across since the river was HUGE!! It completely covered the road and up both hills. It was amazing! I wish they would have let me a little closer for pictures LOL!
This is as close as the guy in the truck let me get (below). He also gave me more directions through more tiny little farmroads to the point we weren't even sure which direction we were going anymore. He called ahead to make sure the road was okay...BUT...by the time we made it to that road...it too was under water!! I was in tears at this point. I was down to about 1/4 tank of gas, lost in the country, it was getting dark and every way I turned was under water! It had quit being funny! MUCH more driving and many prayers later, we found a road we could get across and made it to a gas station and then home!
Of course, being the curious person that I am, I took the kids back last week to see how much damage had been caused in Salado. The picture below is the first river we came to (with the mermaid statue) The house in the background had water almost up to it's porch. There is the parking lot you can see and then behind us (quite a ways) is the other house the water was up to! Amazing! Kimmy was impressed with the tree branches stuck in the trees 10 feet up! They got about 18-20 inches of water in about 2 days!
I am pretty sure this piece of road wasn't left in the river area on purpose! It had been washed there with the flooding! The bridge lost it's sidewalk but was okay to drive on still!
Here are the kids at the Mermaid Statue. They were relieved to see that she was still okay! They had worried maybe she had returned to the sea *grin*
The kids spent a lot of time playing in the water...throwing rocks...playing with the small waterfall and more! They had soaked feet by the time we were done!
The parking lot had a HUGE pothole where the water had washed away dirt. Of course Stevie had to goof off for pictures! He was in a weird mood that day! He was pretending he had stamped his foot and cause the "earthshake"
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