By Jenna Brannaman-

This summer’s treacherous storms impacted many people throughout the community, but no situation was like the one sophomore Maggie Rechkemmer experienced. Maggie and her family had lived in their new house for only three short days. Maggie recalled that everything was still in cardboard boxes downstairs waiting to be unpacked.

Her house is located by the local golf course. Along the back of the golf course runs a creek across Country Club Drive where Maggie’s house stands. The creek is usually quite small, but on Sunday, June 29, it reached 15 ft. and Maggie’s life was flipped upside down.

Late that night, before Maggie went to bed, she saw something that she will never forget. “Our trash cans and boat were floating away!” Her mom told her not to worry about it because there was nothing they could do but soon after that all the windows in their basement cracked and water came rushing in. Maggie explained that it sounded like a “powerful waterfall” rushing down and panic instantly set in. In less than a minute there was at least three to four feet of water throughout the whole basement.

The first thing her family did was get the boxes out of the basement as quickly as possible, but the water caused the majority of the boxes to cave in at the bottom, making them tricky to move. They also have several cats and a few dogs that needed to be moved away from the water, so they got creative. “The funniest moment was when we put the pets into plastic bins with holes into a closet upstairs,” Maggie said.

After a few short minutes they were surrounded by water. Unfortunately the water came up to a towering six and a half feet and the sewage also backed up into the basement making it a very stinky situation. Their night continued into the wee hours of the morning, working hard to do anything they could to save their basement. Eventually they called it quits and went to the local motel to get some sleep.

The following days were filled with insurance estimates, endless hours of cleaning, and lots of support from the community. A short post on Facebook led to almost 80 people volunteering their time to help her family. “There were people that I didn’t even know showing up to lend a helping hand,” she said. “Some of their own houses had flooded but they still came.” Many of Maggie’s friends opened their doors to her and were there for her every step of the way.

It didn’t stop there though; many people brought the family gift cards, clean clothes, and food. Maggie’s favorite item was a homemade trail mix, which was easy to snack on as they were cleaning up. She also enjoyed the pop-tarts that were brought since she usually didn’t get to eat them. The amount of support that her family saw was incredible and they are so thankful to live in such a caring community.

Yes, this situation turned their lives upside down and it wasn’t easy, but they came out of it as a stronger family. They had to be there for each other every step of the way. Maggie’s final comment was one that really hit home, “As bad as this may sound, I am glad it happened.”