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well as of about noonish today i was issued a manditory evacuation from my home .Not sure if anyone has followed what is going on from Francis or not.Florida suffered a double punch but now the western NC mountains is seeing ( atleast Burke county) the worst flooding here in over 60 yrs. I live a 1/2 mile downstream from Lake James a very large deep lake here . the water as of around 9pm tonight was 12-14 foot above normal and from the NCGS the two main rivers feeding the lake had pegged the flood gauge meters at 25+ above flood stage and water is still rising and expected to until between 2-5 am .I was in the process of helping a neigbor lady that lives in a small trailer on the rivers banks this morning when i arrived the water was ankle deep at her back door 45 mins later it was over waste high and we got the evac from the firedept who told us the dam was possibly likely to fail and we had to go ASAP.Luckily i was able to get to my place and pack up my snakes , my dog and my PC and head to safer grounds in a hotel that isnt pet friendly so i had to smuggle the pets in the room as it stands now im not sure if i have a home & shop left to go back to. the link included is of some pics before and during having to leave the house shown is my nextdoor neigbors .... these pics are about 11 hrs old and the water has been rising about a foot a hour . I have two more disks of pics from the lake above my place that are more intense then these pics .

I would like to say to everyone in Florida ( i was there when charley hit and know what some ofyou went through)and know francis made it all worse for all of you there im not religious by any stretch but i wantto say to all floridians and to all on the east coast who have been dumped on by this storms after effects i hope that you all are safe and that things get better with the onslaught of IVAN comming.But also to say that i know for sure what you are feeling as im going through it first hand atthis time .We had less then 20 mins to get out of the area so everything i own is at the mercy of the flooding rivers and it is a sicking feeling may god be with everyone at this time and during the outcome of IVAN on the way .
Take care and most of all be safe and thankful that you all have you life to walk away from the tragedies that have been brought on by mother nature .

Alan

Link to some of the pics
http://photobucket.com/albums/v203/JungleHabitats/LakeJames%20Burke%20County%20flood/
Link

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Buisnesses come and go everyday, what keeps you here is how you treated the customer the day before....My Boa Can Kick Your Boas _ss!www.cheapcages.com
Visit the new website while the Jungle gets made over.

turned out this way..
I live in New York City and Wednesday we had constant rain with flooding that delayed public transportation by 3 hours average. People were getting into work at 10-11am instead of 7-8am, and I know many of us were upset by this, thinking we have it bad...

If some people would only look at what's going on around them, they would realize how fortunate they really are.

Again my prayers are with you and all your friends, family, neighbors and acquaintences there, and everywhere affected lately by these astounding forces of nature.

Hopefully not all will be lost and we will have the strength and the will to rebuild and live on.

Take care, Best Wishes - Joe Rollo - BciJoe
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Thanks and take care - Joe Rollo
'Tis not the stongest of the species that will eventually survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change' Charles Darwin

Well around 2 am the waters peaked in the lake and as of this morning the lake levels have dropped about 4 ft.Most of the bridges around are still shut down due to high flood waters and the Dam seems to have done its job and held the lake in place thank god! They still wont let us as of this morning back to our community to check on our homes.They are expecting to let people back in this evening as the waters reside and the rivers fall back into there banks if the bridges are still safe to pass.We were able to get to the lake itself this morning via a 40 mile detour to check on my brothers boat which is still there so that was a good sign however all of the docks are destroyed and seemed to be the same with more then likely every dock on the lake. About 1/3 of the out skirts of town are still blocked off and areas and many buisnesses are flooded out there was a mcdonalds that all you could see of the golden arches were the over a billion served lol .I will be spending most ofthe day along with many others parked in the fire dept lot waiting for the ok to go back to our homes .luckily my snake collection is a dozen and most babies so i can keep them in my truck heated ( off a power converter to keep them in check since i cant leave them in the hotel room as i had to smugglethem and my dog in yesterday ( got caught this morning with the dog in the room lol they were not happy ) so i took my snakes out in duffle bags in the tubs .Im sure the desk clerk was wandering why in gods name i was carrying the same bag out full and back in empty.

Joe thanks for the wishes and you are right today everyone is worried about themselves and the everyday things that they do routinly and when it has to change we [bleep] rant and rave on how its not fair .a perfect example was when we took the pics of the boat docks yesterday morning .The lake here has homes over 1.5 million on it and the people have that giraffe money if you know whati mean. there homes were safe becuase there on hills around the lake and all the could [bleep] and complain about was " why the people who built the docks should have done it better. the truth is the ones who built it didnt ever think the lake would rise over 14 ft above flood stage which is about a total of 20 ft above normal.if people would once look at what they have and be thankful they have it the society as a whole would be a better place . but it wont ever happen human nature wont allow it i guess well i am signing off now to go wait for clearance to check our homes .

Take care to everyone who was affected by the storms i hope you are able to pick up the peices and get your lives back in some kind of order.
Alan
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Buisnesses come and go everyday, what keeps you here is how you treated the customer the day before....My Boa Can Kick Your Boas _ss!www.cheapcages.com
Visit the new website while the Jungle gets made over.

and all the thousands of others these storms have effected. You are correct though, we should be thankful for the lives of ourselves and loved ones. Property can always be replaced but lives can't. I'm just north of Richmond, Virginia...the downtown of which was hit last week by the worst flood anyone can remember. Several blocks of buildings have been condemned in the heart of downtown due to the flooding, which also trapped a number of people on the 2nd floors of several local restaurants and businesses. Luckily they were rescued as the waters receded, but there were several lives lost downtown and in surrounding communities due to the flooding.

We have been lucky so far and our home is dry and safe. That was in question last night however as we were under a tornado warning. One touched down about 15 minutes' drive from my home and two others about 30 minutes' drive away. There was also more flooding problems last night as that storm front moved through, though not to the degree of that which Gaston dumped on us. I hate to see what the next two hurricanes are going to do to these areas already devastated by the first two. All we can do is pray.

Best wishes to you and yours. Hopefully you'll be one of the lucky ones spared major damage.

Raven