Flooding update

We were mostly spared by the devastating floods that ravaged our region a week ago; but we have friends and family who needed our help, so we spent several days clearing up in the hard-hit adjacent town of Eschweiler, and I'm a bit behind on packing Etsy orders. I hope to meet the deadlines, but it's possible I'll need a few days more. 

That the next heavy rains are predicted for the next week is not very helpful either. :(

Our area is still heavily affected, even for those who stayed dry. Roads and bridges are closed off; it's almost impossible to get to the nearest town as it's hemmed in by the river Rur (which is still some 4 metres wide, as opposed to its usual 1-2m) and doing grocery shopping or going to the post office is a bit of an adventure each time because there's no real communication which roads are passable and which aren't; it's a "go ahead and find out" sort of thing. 

We spent the last week helping a friend of ours clear out his mother's house; she was woken up in the middle of the night by the river (that usually flows some fifty yards from her house) breaking in the front door and flooding the entire ground floor and basement. We helped clearing out the house - hardly anything was salvagable; mud everywhere, everything sodden. My parents in law were also affected - there's no drinking water in the entire town, they're without internet, the hospital was evacuated and won't be opening for months, and their old house on the river, which they still own and let, was completely ravaged. It's stuff you think only happens on TV and/or to other people. 

What is incredible is the huge number of people doing everything they can to help. While we were clearing out the house, people kept stopping by and asked, "Need help?" and they stayed - for an hour, for two hours, for three hours, shovelling mud, taking out furniture, knocking out floor tiles, tearing down wallpaper. People who didn't go around offering hands-on help cooked meals and gave them to workers and helpers and the affected inhabitants. If they couldn't cook, they'd drive to the supermarket, load their boot full of bread, muffins, fruit, or water, sometimes babies' nappies, wet wipes and canned food (also pet food), and would drive round to offer it to anyone who wanted it. Some of them were locals from higher-up areas of town; others came from neighbouring towns or even completely different parts of the country. I've never thought anything like that was possible.