Welcome to the thoughts and photos of FLYDDW. Texas, New Jersey, and Arizona living.

I got this friend who writes a article for a magazine in Texas.  He's been publishing his work in magazine, and mailing them out to friends he knows. 

With his permission, I am reposting one of them here - to drumming up more fans of his writings.

If you like this, there are PLENTY more.  Drop him (or me) a line, and maybe we can get him to create an Mindsay account or allow me to pub them under mine.

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By Robbis Storm
20070705 Flood EYE OF THE STORM...
"RStorm453@aol.com"

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    Funny how history repeats itself.
 
    Compared to what we have today, weather predictions 50 years ago were primitive, seat-of-the-pants affairs.  Nowadays -- what with aerial photography, multiple weather satellites, and Doppler radar -- modern meteorologists are amazingly accurate.
 
    But technology didn't help much last Wednesday.
 
    You didn't hear anyone predict that the bottom would drop out.  You didn't hear anyone predict that the sky would fall.  You didn't hear anyone predict that Noah might need to build a boat.
 
    You didn't hear anyone predict that -- in the span of a few hours -- we would get two-thirds the rain that we'd normally get in 12 months.  That's almost 20 inches of rain in the short span of eight hours.
 
    Remarkable!  Astonishing!  A weather event no one could possibly predict.
 
    Anyone who lives in, or does business, in Marble Falls is amazed at what Mother Nature hath wrought.
 
    Frankly, I think we can be amazed at how well we pulled through.  At this writing there is no reported loss of life -- which is an astounding fact when you consider the volume and ferocity of the water.
 
    I don't live in the city, so I guess I can't claim citizenship.  But I am in the restaurant business in Marble Falls so I feel a kinship with the community and its residents and I want to say:  "Marble Falls -- You can be proud!"
 
    You can be proud that you didn't panic under stress.  You can be proud that no lives were lost.  You can be proud of the way you responded to each other's needs.
 
    Most of all you can be proud of the way you've pulled together to help each other out so Marble Falls can recover.
 
    And as has often been said -- history repeats itself.
 
    Drive half an hour or so north on Hwy 281 from Marble Falls, you'll find the town where I was raised.  Lampasas straddles Sulphur Creek, a clear, spring-fed, stream that 150 years ago, attracted the first Anglo settlers to the area.
 
    Under normal conditions, the creek meanders peacefully through the golf course, then makes a wide bend that circumvents the courthouse square and downtown area.
 
    But conditions were NOT normal that Sunday 50 years ago.
 
    It was Mother's Day -- May 12, 1957, a day engraved in the memory of any Lampasan who lived through it.
 
     Heavy clouds dumped 15 inches on the watershed west of town and the normally placid creek became a wild thing, writhing and threshing like an angry, wounded animal.  Nothing could stand up to its fury.
 
    It jumped its banks, slashed through protecting levees, and cut through the heart of the city, leaving death and destruction in its wake.
 
    One eye witness was Karen Barnett Brown whose father owned Barnett's Jewelry down on the square.  Karen was only 12, but she has a vivid memory of the flood.  She, her brother John, and their parents were caught by high rushing water in the store where they were trying to save some of the merchandise.
 
    To save themselves, they made their way upstairs, part of which was above the vault of the adjacent First National Bank.  Through the floor they could hear the voices of two men trapped in the bank, so they ripped out part of the flooring and were able to pull Dyke Gillen and Will Dents to safety.
 
    "I remember feeling wet, nasty, and very scared!" Karen wrote.  "The flood waters had reached about 5 feet 2 inches in the jewelry store.  A telephone pole had gone through the front door, a dead chicken was in the front of the store . . . mud was several inches thick."
 
    Sulphur Creek had hit the town with a devastating blow, a knockout punch that caught Lampasas squarely on the chin.
 
    But the town wasn't knocked out.
 
    "The spirit of the whole town was to help each other and begin again." Karen continued.  "A tragedy helped us grow and become a city with determination."
 
   Wednesday's flood was certainly a tragedy.  But it doesn't take aerial photography, radar, or satellites to foretell that Marble Falls will not only recover, but its residents and business people will come together to create an even stronger, more viable community.
 
    At least that's my prediction.