My muddy boot bumped the bulkhead as I stepped up. It sounded like a bubble escaped from the soggy soil at the base of a piling. I put my foot down and looked. In a tiny puddle, less than an inch deep, a baby brim struggled. The receding water left the little fish in a quickly-disappearing pool.

It was a long reach but I managed to gently grasp the fish and walk it to the river. A few minutes more and the fish would have died. As I walked home I thought about the stories from our neighborhood and the surrounding area that seem like miracles to me.

First, one of my neighbors happened to wake up Tuesday night. He looked outside and saw that their home was surrounded by water. He awakened his family who quickly evacuated and proceeded to call everyone in the neighborhood. He still doesn’t know what awakened him.

His actions saved another neighbor’s car from being lost in the flood. It saved his family a lot of anxiety. Had they been in their home just a few minutes more they would have been trapped or worse, if they had tried to leave it once the water was a torrent of white-water they could have drowned.

One of our neighbors was trapped in her home. We called 911 but the fire department and sheriff’s heavy-duty rescue vehicles began to float in the current so they had to turn back. My car was parked away from the sheriff departments monster truck but somehow the driver nearly crushed my car. I say nearly because it was a mere three inches from backing over my car. He had already backed over a small tree because he couldn’t see.

Marine Resources officers arrived by a large flat-bottomed jet boat once the fire department and sheriff department couldn’t’ make it. They launched at the Magnolia River bridge trying to rescue our neighbor and others who live nearby. They checked on some people who were already in their second story and didn’t want to evacuate so they found our neighbor’s home. From a place of relative safety in her attic she saw them but couldn’t get to the window in time to get their attention. This probably saved three lives.

The current was outrageous and the river was up 12 to 15 feet above normal level. When the officers left her house they were losing control of their boat. The jets were taking in debris and becoming clogged so they were losing power and steering. They followed the lights of another neighbor’s home and as they were making their way to the porch got swept by the raging current into a tree. Their boat was pinned between the massive current and the tree and had no power or steering. It began to fill with water.

They managed to get it to a grassy area on the other side of my neighbor’s home and stood on the front porch after wading through two feet of water to land on the relatively dry porch. Had my trapped neighbor been in the boat it could have over-weighted it and they all could have entered the raging water.

The next morning at dawn another Alabama Marine Resources officer navigated his way via flooded roads to our neighborhood with a boat designed for swift water rescue. They launched it on our flooded street and made a successful rescue. Even though she spent a terrifying night in her attic, fearful her entire home was about to wash into the river, she made it out safely. During the dark night with an ailing boat she might not have been so lucky.

During the middle of the night I called my brother to let him know of the danger as he and his family live near a creek. Also, I wondered if he knew anyone with rescue equipment that could help our neighbor. I told him not to come out but he did anyway. The bridge was flooded so he couldn’t cross it. By now it was 1.30am.

He noticed a friend of his that lives near the bridge. He was trying to get his truck to higher ground. My brother gave him a tow. He saw him today, after the waters had subsided. His friend asked him why he happened to be there at exactly the right time to help him….at 1.30 in the morning. If he hadn’t been there, his friend would have lost all three vehicles. The truck they got out was the only thing that wasn’t flooded. Their home and two other cars were ravaged by storm water.

When I arrived on a neighbor’s porch as the water was rapidly rising, one of my neighbors wanted to attempt a rescue of our trapped neighbor. I recalled some of my basic swift water rescue training: 1) 6 inches of rapidly moving water can float a vehicle; 2) debris in flood waters can trap a person walking and thus cause them to fall and drown; 3) massive flood waters rushing as they were and at the depths they were would basically guarantee drowning; 4) we had no suitable vessel to attempt a rescue; 5) none of us had proper equipment or training (if you are not trained properly you put yourself and others–who would then have to rescue you–in serious and deadly danger); 7) it is totally unreasonable to contemplate a rescue in the circumstances in which we were experiencing. Sadly, people do not understand these basic rules and it leads to deaths. Needless deaths.

One more miracle before closing. Our community is a gated community. We have two large main gates that open with a keypad or remote. Our back gate, the one closer to the river, goes to Van Wezel drive. That particular gate opens only with a remote.

The night of the flood one of our Van Wezel neighbors awakened to water filling his home. He got in his truck knowing that the wooden bridge exiting his street would be unsafe but also knowing the gate coming into our neighborhood might not open because of the water. When he got to it, the gate was already open and so he could drive to safety. His house was completely flooded. Had the gate not been open he could have drowned.

My mind is fatigued with lack of sleep and attempting to grasp the magnitude of the flood. I paddled my kayak down the Magnolia River from our neighborhood past the osprey nest this afternoon and saw homes that had been flooded, one that was completely gutted and enormous damage to homes, boats…trees. I heard two people arguing and crying as they tried to clean their property. I heard others laughing and joking as they surveyed their destroyed home. So much loss and damage and so many emotions. Neighbors were checking on neighbors and trying to help them find missing boats and other property.

Amidst the elemental power of water that raged people were drawn together in support and concern for each other. And while we couldn’t physically rescue our neighbor, perhaps the prayers that were lifted through the torrential rain and never-ended lightning helped create little miracles. We were clear when we prayed aloud…We need help. Bring your angels to those in need. Protect our neighbor and give her strength. Let her feel the embrace of angels this night as the flood waters surround her. Protect the rescue workers who brave the storm to save others. Help us all know the power of love and strength.

We are all stronger from the experience. We survived. Everyone on the Magnolia River did as well…and that truly is a miracle considering none of us suspected the fierceness and level of the flood.

As a P.S. I would like to advocate for our marine resources officers and fire departments to be equipped with advanced swift water rescue training and gear that keeps them safe. The two officers that arrived soggy and cold came very close to overturning in flood waters. They had a boat that wasn’t equipped to handle flood waters, they had no swift water rescue gear. This needs to be a priority for them as first responders. The fire department guy said they were swift water rescuers but had no safety gear and no rescue equipment. I want our first responders to have the training that will keep them safe and enable them to help others. How can we start a push for this to happen in our state? Who can lend support to them? Thanks for helping.