The Cahaba river which runs next to our house has risen so much in the past day. There was a huge storm last night. The flooding near our house happened the next day when all of the water that fell in north Birmingham caused the Cahaba river to surge down in southern Birmingham where we live.

I took some pictures to show how awesome Mother Nature is. It’s amazing how quickly the water rose and then receded.

Day of flooding Day after flooding
Here’s how the river looked at near it’s peak and the next day when the waters receded.
My neighbor’s townhouse closest to the river! Her air conditioner was underwater during the worst of it and we were all worried that those townhomes would get washed off into the river.
You can use the three pine trees in the center of the photo to give you an idea of how high the river got. Isn’t it unbelievable? And yet here’s the photo evidence.

UPDATE: So I finally got around to putting up the photos of the flooding. I think they really show how severe it was.

During the heavy rains that caused the flooding, I was up in northern Birmingham, driving by properties. It was getting pretty hard to drive and Yara was in the car with me. It wasn’t raining when we left the house, but by the time we got to the first house, it was raining pretty hard. It reminded me a lot of a hurricane like storm. Yara was very afraid of tornadoes.

We’re from Huntsville, AL, so that’s just a part of our childhood. I can still remember when I saw a really big tornado over my neighborhood and I was physically sick with concern for my youngest brother and mom. I was really relieved when they were safe. The next day I rode around our neighborhood, surveying the damage. The local shopping center was completely oblitterated, as if it was never there. A two story house nearby had it’s roof completely removed. It looked as if it were a doll’s house and some child had forgotten to put the top back on.

Anyways, the rain was getting bad and the roads were starting to get a little standing water. We drove through some large puddles on the way to the 2nd house. We had to turn on this small street and found it was being blocked by the police, it was simply too deep for a car to cross. I guess at this point I knew we should be going home and not driving around here anymore. The rain was still coming down pretty hard and the ditches were overflowing. At one point I even turned the car around because I thought the water was too deep. I wanted to just sit it out near a restaurant, but Yara really wanted to get home. She was right, by the time we got throught the worst of the flooding, we heard reports on the radio of cars stalling in the water behind us. We felt bad for those people, but at the same time I was glad it wasn’t me. Does that make me a bad person?

Yara was really awesome for sticking with me during the stressful trip home. Sometimes I need to be strong for her when thing get scary, but I think she could tell I was scared too. Hopefully the next time we drive around Birmingham together, the weather will be more cooperative.