Here we go again....

This is my neighbor Sun Kyun. He is from Vietnam and his house just got flooded. It sits next to what used to be the lake of Lake Drive in Manassas. But now the Lake is in his basement. The sad thing is he has transformed this house. I have seen him and his son out in the yard working diligently to clean the lot, and change the basement and the sun room and spruce up the driveway.

Now he has no power, his freezer (in the basement) is full of water so his food is rotten. And he's not even got the worst of it yet. His neighbor across the street has water up the mid level of his windows. Two years ago when a similar heavy rain flooded the neighborhood, my wife and I bought flood insurance because of something similar. But I don't think Mr. Sun and his family have it. I know one thing they don't have - electric power. The NOVEC representative came and took the meter off their house to keep someone from being electrocuted. But it left them with no power.

They have cell phones and Mr. Sun's granddaughter said they can call relatives, but his son said they have no family except the one that lives in the now flooded house. I am sure theirs is just one of many such stories here in Northern Virginia. But theirs is the closest ones I know. The house is - or was - beautiful inside - hardwood floors, tile in the kitchen, the dining room overlooks the lake - except now the lake has covered the stairs. The hardwood stairs in this immaculate little home. The Red Cross or the County will not allow them to stay there - probably won't allow them because the basement is full of stinky brown water. I don't know what will become of them, but I hope to be a friend to them. It sure puts alot of the crap that I have been worried about in stark perspective.