For those of you that aren’t aware, I live in Austin, Texas. For years, we’ve been in the grip of an extreme drought. Changing climate conditions the past few weeks has brought a deluge of rain our way. Rain that was welcomed at first, but now we’ve experienced more rain in the past month that we got the entire first year I lived here.
Over the weekend, we had some significant storms. My neighborhood was even under a tornado warning more than once, which is pretty scary when you think about the fact that I live in the city, in a high rise. The pounding rain overwhelmed the banks of many rivers and creeks – riverbeds and creek beds that had been bone dry just a month ago. You might have seen images from the Blanco River flooding, which rose nearly 30 feet in just a few hours. You might have seen images from the urban water rescue that happened just a mile or so from my condo (even though the Weather Channel tried to make it look like it was in Houston).
We are fortunate that we had no damage from this past weekend’s wild weather. I spent most of the worst of it ensconced on my couch. But the whole experience reminded me that nothing is taken for granted. The families that are missing from Wimberley, just about 30 minutes from here, thought they were going to have a nice relaxing holiday weekend. Instead, one husband is injured and his entire family is missing.
Hug your loved ones a little tighter and instead of staring at your phone, pay attention to the flesh and blood people in your lives. Whether it’s floods, tornadoes, or skin cancer, events can quickly change your future and take away people you thought would always be around.