Flood Recovery Funds for Longwells

Friends and family - we have a one of our own in great need due to the flooding in Louisiana.  Steve and Jeni (Bogan) Longwell live in Baton Rouge and have lost everything in the flood.  I grew up with Jeni Bogan in Union, IA and worked with Steve at Pioneer for several years.  They just recently moved to Steve's home state of LA.  Just after returning from seeing their daughter at boot camp in MO (yes - they are a military family!!!) they had to evacuate their neighborhood due to quick rising flood waters.

So let's show our support for this family in need and help them rebuild.  They need money for daily essentials right now (food, shelter, clothing) and will need to replace their home, vehicles, and all of their belongings.  We here in Iowa feel very helpless with them so far away and it being nearly impossible to get things in and out of LA right now.  Cash is the best option right now.  Please consider giving even if it's a few dollars.  Every dollar counts when you're in the situation they're in.  And they, as well as I, will be so grateful.

Steve's Facebook post from Saturday night, August 13th...."So I wanted to write a little bit and try to begin to process this monumental change in direction that my life will be taking.
We will likely lose most of our belongings to this flood, which has been described by the media as "historic" and "unprecedented". And it no doubt is. I have never had the misfortune of being on the receiving end of Mother Nature's wrath, and I never hope to again. An event like this puts things into perspective.

Friday evening, my wife, dad, daughter and I were returning from Fort Leonard Wood, MO, where my daughter was going through Basic Training for the Army Reserves. We left early in anticipation of bad weather along the way. About 2pm, we got to Louisiana, and our GPS told us to take LA 10 through Greensburg, LA to get back home. As we pulled into the gas station north of our exit, it had already been raining there for several hours.

I went inside and overheard a trucker say that LA 10 was closed due to flooding. No problem, plenty of other routes. I-55 south of Amite also closed...ok, LA 16? Nope, also closed. We ended up eventually on Hwy 51 through Tickfaw and Hammond and Independence. We could already tell the flooding was bad, it was visible in the very full ditches. As we continued to travel, we finally got to I-12. We then learned of the curfew in Central, put in place to keep drivers off the roads near rising waters.
We raced back to my dad's house to drop him off, in the hopes that we would make it back by curfew. We did, with "plenty" of time to spare.

At the time, no one thought we would have much to worry about. Our house is not in a flood plain, and even the heaviest rains we had seen in the last year barely rose the water level in the drainage ditch beyond our back fence. We figured we would return my dad's car in the morning, and all would be right with the world.

I woke up around 630am this morning to see heavy rain and the beginnings of a pond in my backyard. Wow, this can't be that bad, can it? I looked out front and did not see the street...instead the water had covered the street AND the sidewalk, and was beginning to encroach on my front lawn. Jeni woke up shortly afterwards, saw the writing on the wall, and went into action. I still did not think this was a big deal, after all it had never flooded in our neighborhood before.

I could not have been more wrong.

As we were loading irreplaceable items into the attic, the waters kept rising. We sought out our neighbors to get their assessment of the situation, but it was just a few minutes after 7am ON A SATURDAY! Who is going to be up? Well, neither of my neighbors were awake, but they did wake up quickly after seeing their front yards.

One neighbor grabbed his big 4WD truck to head to the fire station to get sandbags, while my other neighbor began getting his boat ready. Jeni and I continued to get stuff together for our evacuation (which, honestly, I thought was unnecessary at the time). We eventually ended up putting everything we were taking with us in our neighbor's house, and left Jeanette there to watch the cats and assist any way that she could.

Jeni, my neighbor, and I began heading for my friend Donna's house. She had called me in a panic as they had water in their house already, and needed rescue. We eventually fought through the rising current and evacuated her ailing dad, her daughter, her son, and her cat. Along the way, we rescued a paraplegic and his caregiver, as well as a young couple who lives nearby, bringing them to the end of Rustling Oaks Dr, where the water was not as deep, and vehicles were parked on high, dry ground.

We dropped off our passengers and placed them in the back of a pickup that was parked there. We did not know the owners, they weren't around. We knew this would be temporary, however, as the water was beginning to creep up. We saw that the auxiliary buildings had ramps and were on higher ground, so we reasoned that if we could get our passengers there, they would at least be out of the rising waters. So, we headed off in search of bolt cutters, because these buildings were being a locked and chained gate.

Found a helpful neighbor who owned a pair, got them, and cut the chain (sorry not sorry) and opened the chain link gates. Found another neighbor with a pirot ( tiny Cajun canoe), loaded up the elderly man and paraplegic, and floated them to higher ground. After getting everyone settled, the caregiver asked me to get her wallet out of her truck, which was parked in the driveway on the deep end of Rustling Oaks. By this time, I had been in the water about 1.5 hours.

The water towards Donna's house had risen about a foot since we picked her kids up...at this point, just below my elbows. Got to her truck, already about a foot of water in it. Retrieved the wallet, returned the bolt cutters to the helpful neighbor, and headed back. I met Jeni on the way back, she had just dropped off the rest of Donna's family at the school, and was heading back to pick up more folks that needed rescue. I knew of an elderly woman of 96 years that was stuck in her house, and pointed the way there.

At this point, it was about noon. Slogging through waist-deep and higher water was taking a toll on my fat, out-of-shape ass, and I was cold and hungry and tired. But there was more work to be done, more people to rescue. Donna's son Shane had been lending Jeni a hand with the rescues, and I could tell he and Jeni were pretty beat too. We ended up breaking off at this point to see who else needed rescue. There was one lady with 6 cats, one lady with 4 kids and a dog, two elderly couples, and an older daughter with her old dog. ALL of these people got rescued today.

I want to make sure people know how hard and selflessly Jeni worked today, because she probably is going to downplay it. She waded through waist-deep to neck-deep water today from about 8am until about 330pm. She didn't ask for a break, or water or food. She just kept going back for more, until the job was taken over by motorized boats and first responders. I could not be more proud of you and what you did today, and I'm sure all the people you helped are very glad that you did.

Thanks also to the first responders who got folks out of Tanglewood subdivision. I wish they would have got there sooner, but I heard they had their hands full, so I guess I can understand. ;)

Thanks also to my neighbor Claytus and his wife Lynn, who let us commandeer their boat for rescues and kept our daughter safe in the beginning hours of this tragedy.

I also wish to send my appreciation to my neighbors on Rustling Oaks Dr. Many of you were looking out for your fellow neighbors as Jeni and I (and others, we weren't working alone) passed by, pointing out where elderly or disabled people might be that needed rescue.

On a closing note, I was surprised at the sheer number of spiders that I encountered in the floodwaters, as well as balls of fire ants. I also only saw 1 small snake, and a couple fish near my front door. Figured I would have seen more of those.

I am so tired, not only physically, but emotionally as well. We have lost my car, my dad's car, and every piece of furniture in my house. I'm fortunate, however, that I did not lose any family or friends. The other stuff is just that, stuff. It will get replaced, maybe. Hug your family a little tighter tonite, and realize that even on your worst day (and today may have been mine), someone else has it worse, and you probably don't even know it.

Sorry for rambling, I'm spent. And my wife Jennifer Bogan Longwell is owed way more credit than me. Thank you very kindly for the support you all have shown me and my family today."