So today it started to rain and continued to rain most of the late morning and early afternoon. But the interesting part happened around 2:00. I had just returned from dropping one of my sisters off at her class and had begun the tedious task of reading for one of my classes. It was only a couple minutes into reading when a huge bolt of lightning struck and caused thunder to crack. Then the power went out for a couple seconds and then came back on. (I have to admit I was a little disappointed, I love it when the power is out)
Considering how much I love rain I was very distracted by the outside. My room has two big windows that create a great view of the outside world. Needless to say, I noticed how heavy the rainfall had become. Then it got to a point where it was completely white outside because of the rain. I've only seen it rain that hard a few times in my life, and never in the U.S. The road quickly became a river and the drains couldn't keep up with all the water. Roof drains were making those loud pouring noises that drown out any other noise you hear. It was raining really, really hard.
There are a few details I would like to mention before I continue my story. The sorority house I live in is located at the bottom of a slanted street and has a poor drainage system. Our front lawn is lower that the sidewalk and looks terrible right now--meaning we have dead brown grass. We also have a small porch that has six rocking chairs (3 on each side of our front door).
OK now onto the rest of my story. The river running down the street began to drain into our front yard. Thus created a lake in front of our house. No more grass, no more sidewalk, only the tops of our bushes could be seen. It literally looked like a lake had decided to move locations and stop in front of our house. Each car that went by, yes there are people who still drive through rivers, caused waves to ripple and rush towards our house. There was even a guy on a motorcycle. A Motorcycle!! I was surprised it worked in all that water...he was practically sitting in a river! The lake increased quickly and started to come INTO the house in the front foyer area. Girls were running to the windows and I was too. I took pictures of the insanity and maybe will post them once I develop the film. It was crazy. The rocking chairs had water all the way up to the flat seat part. We have one step up to our house and the water was lapping up over the step.
People who were unlucky enough to be walking in the horrible weather had to wade through water that reached mid-calf. They also endured many splashes caused by people driving WAY too fast in the road river. I felt sorry for them because here they were already soaking wet and having to step into gross sidewalk water, and other people had to zoom by and add to their ensemble greasy road river water. :(
Right across the street from my house is the bus stop. I watched as this guy walked quickly to the shack. Then a car drove past splashing him. So he stepped up onto the seat and under the covering. Then another guy joined him. Two guys standing on top of a bench waiting for a bus and watching as car after car drove past splashing water all over the sidewalk. They started to lean forward to see when a car would come to prepare themselves. It was actually quite entertaining. Then a girl walked up and they both told her to get up onto the bench. She seemed to hesitate but got up anyway. A car drove past again splashing as it went and that seemed to prove the guy's point.
The drains started to work again after about fifteen minutes...and now we can see our ugly lawn again. But the flash flood at Florida State will never be forgotten. I just hope no one will get too sick because of all the rain. I now understand the term "flash flood." I had never seen water rise that quickly before. It is pretty fascinating. I'm just glad I didn't have any classes this afternoon!!
