Stockton flood.

Well, just after getting home I posted that last post and then I called Ken (my fishing buddy) to see how he was doing (as he lives in Stockton). I naively thought he was probably OK. Wishful thinking I guess. He is OK, but his house isn't and neither is his truck or his fence or much of anything he owns. His house was right in the middle of it and he was actually driving home at 11:00 last night with his 1 year old daughter. He ended up having to abandon his truck as it stopped running due to water being 3 feet up along his vehicle. He then found himself wading through a waist deep current holding his daughter as he made his way to his parents. He said he actually fell a couple times while he was making his way there. I wasn't really comprehending all the details he was telling me until after I hung up with him.

He said he spent the night at his parents house and the water came up within 15" of the ceiling of the main floor (they were sleeping on the second floor). The whole night they could hear people yelling and screaming for help. Scary! I was absolutely dumbfounded when I was talking to him. It was hard for me to process everything he was saying. He spent all day today moving all of their belongings out of their house to Marnie's parents house (Marnie is Kenny's wife and also my co-worker). One of their cars that was left at their house (house is a total mess) was covered in mud on the inside but still started amazingly.

I felt horrible for not calling earlier just to see if there was anything I could do and he said everything was taken care of as well as it could be for now. I told him I'd check in on him tomorrow after work as well to see what I can do, if anything. We'll see.

I know on the news they've been saying five or six are dead. Ken said the count is up to seven when I talked to him. Stockton is about 15 minutes from Winona.