Chehalis Flood 2007 & 2008

The first week of December 2007 Lewis County Washington was hit with a horrible flood. A flood that wiped out homes, roads, rail roads, farms, businesses, schools and much more. After the flood, many thought that they would have time to recover from the devastation, but just 13 months later they were hit with another horrible flood. The reported losses may have been fewer then the previous year but the losses were just as devastating.

In late January we traveled down to Chehalis to lend a hand. We traveled down with over twenty others from First Lutheran. The trip down, originally planned for the weekend before Christmas, was moved to January when we received all the snow and the roads were too treacherous. Between the time we originally planned to go down and the weekend in January that we did go down, the 2008 flood hit.

While in Chehalis we had an opportunity to help the Sanchez family who had previously lost their home in the 2007 flood. Over the last year they had acquired a home, placed it in an elevated position and began to move in their belongings. However, they had not yet moved in all their belongings. When the 2008 flood hit they again felt hard losses as their belongings, waiting in tents on their property to be moved into their house, were covered in flood water. Our job was to help them separate their damaged belongings from those that could be salvaged. All the damaged belongings were then divided into burn piles or trucks to be taken to the dump. It was devastating to watch as this wonderful family had to go through the sorrow and devastation of saying goodbye to so much all over again. Because of where the Sanchez property was positioned, they ended up with a lot of debris on their property when the waters receded. Mrs. Sanchez told us that many people will come to their property to look for belongings that they are missing.

We had a great group of people working with us and it was wonderful to be able to help as much as we could. Our girls went with us and although it was cold and our oldest spent some time in our truck trying to stay warm, they did a great job helping us. Our youngest was an amazing trouper, hauling debris to the burn piles and carrying anything her little arms could hold. Thank you to all of you who gave up your weekend to help others.