Dear Friends,

With airline crashes and such, I am not sure how widespread the news got, but some of you might have heard that Chiang Mai was hit with flooding this week.It is said that it is the worst flooding in 40 years.This is our personal story of the flooding.

We first heard there was a problem around 10 am on Sunday morning. Through friends, we heard the kid's school which was to open for the new year was going to delay the opening.So we went to the school to see why.Already then, the water was rising and starting to enter some low buildings. We stayed and helped move some items for a couple hours.When we had moved what we could, we tried to get home, but traffic was already snarled as the streets were flooded, cars and motorbikes were stalling in the water, the traffic lights were out and it was general pandemonium.Eventually we got home though, and found our house and neighborhood still high and dry.The radio had said the flood would hit its peak at 2 pm so we thought we were in good shape.That turned out to be an optimistic prediction.

Our girls, Erin and Shannon had spent the night at a friends house for a final end of summer sleep over.In going to get them in the afternoon, it was fortunate that the west bound lanes we used were dry while the east bound lanes were flooded in pockets.Again, numerous cars and bikes were drowning out creating traffic chaos that resulted in a miles long traffic jam.Erin and Shannon walked out of their friend's neighborhood in knee deep water and met our truck in the west bound lanes and we took a round about way back home to avoid the flooded spots and traffic jam.

We got home around 4 pm to a still dry neighborhood, but that was not to last long.Our evening church service had already been canceled. The church is close to the river and couldn't be reached.At 5 pm, we thought about going out to dinner when we noticed muddy water coming onto the street from the direction of the river. This had never happened before.Just as that water started to be visible, there was a heavy downpour and within a few minutes, the street was filled with water. Hmmm…. Was the street filling because of the downpour or because the flooding was still growing?We didn't know, but we figured we had time to eat either way, but we changed direction and went to eat somewhere close by. Within a half hour though, LaMon and Pat Brown (our neighbors and also IM missionaries) phoned to say we better get home as the water was rising fast.We ate our fast food even faster.Then the kids, figuring if they were going to get stranded, they had better do it on a full stomach went and quickly grabbed some ice cream.

We got home to find the driveway full and the mission storage rooms threatened. Fortunately, the storage rooms weren't very full so we could put most of what had some value up high.In the end, these store rooms did have several inches of water in them.

The water was still rising, so we moved things up off the floor in our house, and made plans to move more things depending on how high the water got. From there, we went to our office which is over one street. Water in the streets was getting pretty deep by this point, but we have a 4 wheel drive truck that has pretty high clearance. So we were able to get to the office just as water was lapping at the door and waves from passing trucks was already making the floors wet inside. We quickly emptied the bottom files drawers, and moved anything we could up on top of the desks. There was no information about how high the water would come.It was already at a height that no one remembered seeing before, so it was anyone's guess as to what needed to be moved and what should stay.

Going back home, the water in the drive way was getting worrisomely deep. We have a mission owned car not blessed with the same high clearance as the 4 wheel drive truck so we decided we had better try to move it while we could. But could we?The water was already pretty deep in the street.We thought we should try it, so Marcia drove the truck in the front which pushed a wall of water, making it slightly shallower right behind the truck. The mission car gurgled and blubbered and was as much a boat as a car but it made it to high ground.We passed by the parking place of the TBMF office car but didn't think we could move it as the area around it was flooded and it would probably just get stuck.There was still several inches to go before water got into the car anyway, and again, who knew how high the water would come?

Getting back home, after moving the mission car, the water was still rising so we moved some more things up higher.Then there was a call from a two volunteer saying they were getting nervous where they were and wanted to move to where we were so at least they would be around more people.So we went to fetch them and bring them back to our house in the 4 wheel drive truck.Going anywhere in anything by this time was getting to be an adventure as the water in the streets was getting deeper but our truck was still doing OK.By now it was getting late, but at 11:30 pm we had one more request to check on another mission owned car.We went to where it was parked.At the time it was in only a few inches of water but to get it to the road would involve turning around in a flooded yard where we didn't know where the drive way was, crossing a fast flowing section that was washing out deep holes, and dismantling and re-building a sand bag dike that people had built.Thinking the risks outweighed the reward, we decided to leave it where it was.Besides, at this stage, the new predictions were that the flood would peak at 2 am, just a couple hours away.Unfortunately, the water did rise high enough that it entered the truck though we think it is OK mechanically. Even yesterday (Wednesday) though, we couldn't move it for fear of getting stuck so we'll have to wait a while longer to see just what the damage is.

At 2:00 am we checked the water again to see that it was right at the level of our floor.At 3 am we checked the water once more to see that it was actually a quarter inch below the floor.It was looking like we would escape having water in the house.Unfortunately, just as we were beginning to relax at our house, the flood was beginning for the area around the House of Love. The House of Love is only 1/3 mile from our house and seemingly at a similar elevation, but the flood reacted very differently.Maybe debris had blocked a drainage system that suddenly let loose around 2 am, but it was around that time that the water started rising rapidly there.The children were evacuated in plastic wash tubs as the water was chest deep on the adults.The house parents worked hard to lift up the things that they could, but the residents are mostly kids and there were many heavy things.So there is quite a lot of damage at the House of Love.By Wednesday, the water was still in many parts of the house.

Throughout Monday, the water around our house and office receded fairly quickly while rising and eventually peaking around the House of Love.There wasn't much we could do at the office until the water left, so after moving a few things to get ready for the clean up we left and went to check on other places.Tuesday, the water was out of the office so we moved everything out of the first floor and pressure sprayed and squeegeed the water and mud out.Tuesday afternoon then, we had a clean up session at our house. By Wednesday, the office was dry so we could move things back into the office and reorganize our papers and files.Today (Thursday) we are more or less back to normal at home and at the office.

Within our group, Kim Brown's house has a lot of water damage and quite a lot of furniture needs to be replaced.Much of the furniture is actually owned by the landlord so how much he is willing to replace remains to be seen.A couple cars also need to be dried out. The biggest problems though will be at the House of Love and at the emergency home of the NewLifeCenter.It will still be some days before the damage can be assessed at those places.We wonder too what is happening up in the villages in the mountains where all this water came from.

I know some word of the floods had been going out so we thank you for your prayers during these last few days.We hope this is the end of our flood story, though we are only half way through the rainy season and the news headlines today are calling for more rain and flooding. Please keep praying for the House of Love and NewLifeCenter as they deal with the damage.For us personally, we are grateful to more or less be back to normal.

Peace and Blessings,

Duane & Marcia Binkley