Remember to breathe, Tami. {{{{{hugs}}}}}}}}

Thanks ya'll. We had been trying to reach them or get word of how they fared since the first news of the flash flood was reported on regional news, and are very relieved to know Lexie's house was not ruined.

Between strip-mining and over-logging so many parts of that area - all of the Appalachian plateau, actually - has become increasingly prone to flash flooding of the many creeks that have carved out those narrow hollers that make up the ancient Appalachian Plateau. The entire region has been inundated with rain for the past several weeks. Lexie's kids realized when the last round of storms was predicted that flooding was possible so went and got her to be sure she would not be trapped.

My Dad's family is from Flat Gap and other near communities that were also flooded there in Johnson Co, Ky. Our several times great grandparents moved there right after the Revolutionary War, taking land grants offered as compensation for their war service. I am probably kin to at least 50% of the the folks who live in and around those local hollers (hollows, to outlanders), though Lexie and one of her daughters are the only folks we really know and are close to.

Abusing this thread and audience to wander and reflect a little on my own roots to people and also a region, provoked by the tragedy of one small part of the world that touches me personally. My grandparents were 4th cousins on their respective paternal sides. Lexie was my grandmother's 1st cousin, on Nannie's maternal side. Lexie is 20 years younger, but their mutual grandparents helped raise Nannie, and Nannie helped raise Lexie. Lexie was also more distantly related to my grandfather through his and Lexie's mothers. The ties that bind.

Life in the Appalachian hill country has never been easy. My heart breaks for them. But they are strong and resilient and their community still has a lot of cohesiveness. This is not the first flash flood, and it won't be the last. But they are getting more frequent and more severe.

We have a different kinship here in that it is neither by bloodline or geography. Here on Mudcat we can, and occasionally have, collectively and individually come to the aid of different folks in need in instrumental, 3-d world ways, but mostly our relationships are virtual. Doesn't diminish the kinship and all the emotional and psychological ways community matters in the lives of each of us.

Grateful for ties that bind and enjoin us to sail along with one another on the ship - flotilla really, of care, concern, and unconditional positive regard.

I am often not sure why some songs come to mind, but this one does right now, for whatever reason. On A Day Like Today