Like so many in our country, this family is having to deal with the damage left from hurricanes this year, now you can add Nathan victims to the tally. We got 64 inches of rain here in Jefferson County, Texas (Beaumont, Port Arthur, Hampshire-Fannett), so i know about cleaning these flood ravaged homes. I helped salvage what we could of my 83 year old retired Marine father-in-law's house by canoe before the river took it under. I cannot imagine doing it under the circumstances this family is faced with.

They seem to be able to handle it financially, which is better than most due to high numbers of households with no flood insurance. I hope that is the case. The wedding dress was tough, memories are our most precious possessions.

While I saved the portrait of my deceased mother-in-law, the rest of the photos were all under water. My father-in-law has been drying them with a hair dryer one picture at a time, many are ruined. His Marine foot locker which he used in Korea and Vietnam and contained his medals and other keepsakes from his long service is all ruined. It is breaking his heart. He kept going over to his house, at least as close as he could get to it, for days waiting for the water to go down enough.

If you are able, please donate to the disaster relief of your choice, taking care to choose one where the money gets to the victims instead of Trump-like pseudo charities. People really need help with building materials since so many were without flood insurance thinking either that being outside the flood plain, Homeowner's or Windstorm insurance would cover it, or that it never flooded before, meant they were safe. Many could not afford it after paying for Windstorm insurance, which has skyrocketed since Katrina, Rita and Ike. After all of this I think coastal residents are in for a sea-change in new costs for Windstorm and flood insurance and Federal disaster relief cutbacks.

Funny, I have not seen Lowes or Home Depot running any special discounts to help the uninsured victims. Even car manufacturers and dealerships are offering "employee discount pricing" and the like for victims of the flood. Home Depot of course was started by a RW alleged (by him) Christian. Hey dude, what would Jesus do?

I want to thank all of those who donated or had kind words of support. The DU community has been very very supportive to us, and to me personally. Special shout out to Malaise for all of the support I received, it means so much!