Posted on June 15, 2010 - by Larry

Monday, June 14, 2010 – Mingo, County, WV

Monday, June 14, 2010
Mingo, County, WV

Today we woke and after breakfast headed out in our work groups. We drove just down the road to two homes right on the river. During the Saturday night flood the river must have rose 5-8 feet. The 2009 flood was much worse than Saturday night. In 2009 these two trailers were nearly destroyed and after rebuilding the homeowners raised their homes higher so this time the mud flowed under and through, We spent almost the entire morning moving debris to piles on the street. FEMA will eventually come and pick these up. The morning was hot and humid and these annoying gnats were swarming around our heads; it nearly drove me mad. For lunch we took our sandwiches (we made in the morning) and headed to McDonald’s to eat in air-conditioning. At McDonald’s a man from the Governor’s office noticed us and came to see what we were up to. He gave us all hats and we are supposed to send him our names because the Governor is going to send us certificates of appreciation. On our day off we might go into Charleston for a tour of the Governor’s mansion and to meet the first lady.

After lunch we walked to the Dollar store for head bands. The heat and humidity make it really difficult to NOT sweat in your eyes. While in the store it rained really hard, what they call “gully washers” and most of the people in the store were pretty worried about the river flooding again. We headed back to the site and finished up some more work. The downpour had stopped so we worked in a light rain which was pretty nice (and the headbands worked great for keeping the water out of our eyes.) During work we got a chance to talk to one of the homeowners: Melissa and Richard. They’re very nice people and very happy that we are here helping. He used to be a coal miner and he has a great story. When he was in the mine some sort of equipment had run him over and according to everyone that knows he wasn’t expected to live much less walk and new he is up and moving. He said it is, “ok to get knocked down, but not ok to get up.” He and Melissa talked a lot about the 2009 flood and showed us pictures. The 2009 damage was pretty extensive.

After work we headed back for dinner and evening activities. We played Mafia (Scott is a master narrator) and I am currently getting my butt kicked in my hearts game. Carly is a silent killer. In the first 5 hands she has handed me the queen nearly every time. I have 59 points and she has 1! The game is on hold and I will probably lose tomorrow.

Off to bed.