Disaster Stories Galore!
Plus, my debut on Narratively and another flood-related milestone ...
Every year around this time, my Facebook page’s Today on This Date — normally a great reminder that my life was boring then too — is flooded with memories of the flood. Messages not unlike those you’d send to someone who recently lost a loved one (we were so sorry to hear about your loss), links to helpful information (in case you haven’t seen it, here’s the latest on the FEMA disaster declaration), and an array of photos and videos from a period of my life that feels like it was a lifetime ago are all right there.
The screenshot above is one of the many reminders of how fortunate my family was during one of the most difficult periods of our life. That generator was completely submerged in brackish creek water and should have been one of the many material possessions we lost to the water gods, yet thanks to my neighbor Johnny Q’s genetic predisposition to fix ANYTHING that’s broken, that same generator is running to this day. (Sidenote: Chances are, Johnny’s booked up through the rest of 2024, but if you need anything fixed, installed or assembled — and I mean ANYTHING — here’s where you can reach him: servicesonq.com).
Three-year ‘Floodaversary’
It’s hard to believe it’s been three years since my home was flooded, and I started this newsletter to keep myself sane and my friends and family up to date on the progress of our rebuilding efforts. From minute-by-minute accounts of what it felt like to stay put while my home became part of a creek to descriptions of the conflicting emotions I felt as the recipient of charity and aid (from FEMA to GoFundMe) to what my family and I have planned for our future, I feel like I’ve mined every inch of this story for all that it’s worth. Three years removed from the natural disaster that led to the creation of this little project, there’s not much more I can say about this river person rebuild. It’s time to change course. That’s why soon — within the next month or two — I’ll be changing the title of this newsletter from River People Rebuild to Disaster Stories: Surprisingly hopeful tales from a world on the brink.
Obviously, the format and the focus will need to change, too. Instead of basing everything on my own limited perspective, I’ll be telling other people’s disaster stories, too. Most of the subject matter will be about natural disasters and the increasingly extreme weather we’re witnessing due to climate change, but I’ll occasionally add in tales that take a much more liberal interpretation of the term disaster — i.e., when I accidentally drank a Wawa coffee-cup full of a relative’s piss (story to come).
I’ll also be taking advantage of Substack’s podcast feature, as well. Ever since my day job added podcasting to my responsibilities, I’ve learned to love the medium. Of course, under the new format, I’ll be heavily reliant on others for content. So that means I want to hear from you. If you’ve lived through an experience — from natural disasters to public foibles that made you want to die from embarrassment — that altered your perspective significantly, let me know.
New article alert!
I just wrote an essay for Narratively that offers a glimpse into the direction I’m aiming to take this newsletter moving forward. Here’s an excerpt:
…. Demas initially planned on waiting out the storm at home, but she had a change of heart when she saw how fast the flooding suddenly gained speed. “When I saw water rushing in the walls of my basement and saw it coming up the stairs, I decided it was time to leave,” she told me.Despite this, her boyfriend tried to wait out the storm at the house, but ultimately deemed it unsafe and fled shortly afterward. Meanwhile, Demas and her daughter (her son was told to stay put at his girlfriend’s) walked through waist-deep water on the way to the car. On the drive toward safety, she saw multiple cars trapped in places where the river spilled over onto the road, and had a close call herself. “We slammed into a wall of water, and the car stalled out,” Demas said. “My daughter was screaming, and the car turned off and back several times before we got through.”
You can read the entire story right here.
The Narratively piece, titled “Our House Will Flood Again. And Again. Here’s Why We Refuse to Leave,” uses my own personal experience as a jumping off point but includes the stories of two other natural disaster victims (Megan and Verena) to tell a story about why so many people voluntarily choose to stay put after a flood.
I spent several hours on the phone with both of the women whose stories were described in the piece, and the finished product was so much stronger than anything I could have put together based solely on my own experience. I know a lot of RPR (soon to be DS) readers are writers themselves, and I can’t recommend working with Narratively strongly enough. They care a lot about the stories they put out into the ether, and I can’t recall a time that an editor as put as much care and effort into every word of an article I submitted. Did I occasionally audibly say mutter things like “For fuck’s sake, I don’t give a shit if that line is ‘not quite there,’ can’t we just be done with this fucking thing already?” Yes, yes I did. Was I ultimately glad that she did agonize over each and every line of a story I myself would’ve likely allowed several throwaways lines to get by? Absolutely.
Unlike writing about my own story, this Narratively piece required me to find personal stories about flooding; it require research. Eventually I got in touch with the two incredible women who were featured in the article, but throughout my search, I came across my stories (and reached out to plenty of the individuals in them). Here is a small sampling:
After the flood, this Plainfield, Vermont couple planned to leave. Then their neighbors showed up. I mention Vermont — one of the most beautiful states in the country — in the Narratively article, and I corresponded with Pär Winzell, the male half of the couple featured in the story, over email and Facebook several times and hope to tell a long-form version of his story on here sometime in the near future. He sent me the below picture of the devastation of his property, which has been flooded before.
“Family keeps positive attitude as house floods again.” Eva Hansen is a 90-year-old Minnesota women who has seen her home flooded multiple times. This is her (and her family’s) story.
“One year since Ida: How the remnants of a hurricane still leave Pa. residents paying the price.” When most Pennsylvania residents think about Ida, they think about flooding, but it’s important to remember that the storm also brought a tornado to Southeastern Pennsylvania, and people like Tammy Echevaria went through hell as the result of that type of natural disaster.
“10 Hurricane Katrina Survivors Reveal Storm's Impact on Their Lives & New Orleans 15 Years Later.” This story is nearly five years old, so now it’s 10 survivors, almost 20 years later. But it gave a powerful account of the many ways in which the historic hurricane impacted people’s lives.
“An Englishman's home has flooded nearly a dozen times in 7 years. He built a wall to stop it from happening again.” Across the pond, a man named Nick Lupton got so sick of seeing his home flood again and again, so he took some very extreme measures to make sure it wouldn’t happen again.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t at least mention the devastation in North Carolina that just took place, where as of 9/29, at least 34 people are dead due to flooding and corresponding landslides. This Atlantic article does a really good job in describing the role climate change played in the latest natural disaster and how places like Asheville are simply not equipped to handle this type of extreme weather.
Get in touch
As always, leave your questions, concerns or general feedback in the comments section (or in any post) or email me directly at jrdbilski@gmail. Consider sharing with others using either of buttons below my signature (or on any of the Share buttons sprinkled throughout). In an effort to grow my recommendations, I’m doing something kind of fun. The first person to recommend River People Rebuild will be featured in the next newsletter.
Thanks!
Jared
Love the rebrand. Guess you’re going to have to write about love now, too…..
Always a good read...can't wait for future stories ❤️