Four years ago, my neighborhood and my house flooded. Although my parents and neighbors tried to prevent this by building in a non-flood zone, the flood still occurred

The rain was intense. After eight long days of what seemed to be constant downpour, the rain finally stopped. The best way I can describe this is like the scene from Forest Gump when Forest was in Vietnam and it continued to rain Then, all of a sudden, the rain stopped and the sun broke through. Although my parents and I were relieved, at the same time, we were devastated.

Devastated, shocked, destroyed, overwhelmed, these are the simplest of words to describe our feelings. Imagine looking around and simply seeing death through the devastation of my and my neighbor’s property, either wrecked or tossed all over the place.

Our pool was over filled and in the skimmer were countless rats, mice, toads, bugs, and leaves. Our lifeguard stand managed to fall and sink to the bottom of our pool, and the basketball hoop had willow branches all around it. Our 32-year-old Blue Spruce collapsed, and the flagpole broke in an L like bent with the flag buried under the pole. Garbage was all over our lawn due to garbage cans being scattered and thrown all over the neighborhood. Tree parts and what seemed to be parts of flowers covered our freshly laid sod. At the center of neighborhood was what seemed to be a pond or small lake of water, where we once played football and soccer. Not only my home, but also my neighborhood seemed to be destroyed.

My parents and neighbors then went on a mission to clean everything up. My parents paid professionals to pump out our basement, and make sure it was safe to use. While the workers did the basement we worked on our yard. We chain-sawed up the Blue Spruce, and picked up the Willow branches as well as all the things on the lawn. I had to dive into the pool and resurface the lifeguard chair, then drain it back to its original level. Our pool had to get shocked because of the filth that happened during the storm. The most specific thing I remember was my mom saying, “Everything has to be clean and put back to normal.”

After a weeks worth of power washing the house, picking up the lawn, fixing the flag pole, and many other things my home, and my yard, looked like how it use to. Yet, we weren’t quite done yet. We had to wait for the garbage men to come and take away all of the things that were tossed and ruined during the storm. Then one day, the garbage men came and it was finally over.

I am very appreciative for garbage men and the whole system of waste management. It amazes me how just a few workers can all of a sudden take a situation like mine where there are things where they shouldn’t be, and take them away. It’s like it never happened. They managed the garbage and they managed to bring our neighborhood back to the norm. I am grateful for these men and women that do this as their job and I always say thank you when I see them ridding our cans of the filth at my house.