Pop up thunderstorms are a trademark of late spring and early summer. In setting up the build schedule we factored in lost time due to rain. This week we are right on schedule with the house – as well as the predicted storm. From our location under the Walnut Street Bridge we could see the dark clouds rolling in – and that meant we had to roll as well. Fortunately, we had a group of volunteers from Bethel Bible Village who were quite capable of rolling with the punches.
The house is dried in, at this point, but our materials staging area, outside work areas and volunteer tent are not. The biggest concern was the kitchen and bathroom cabinets and vanities that had just been delivered that morning. They have a cardboard wrapper but it would not protect them from water. Everyone pitched in and got the cabinets inside before the bottom dropped out. We also had time to get tools stored and materials stacked.
One of the projects the group from Bethel Bible Village had been working on was painting the trim for the house. Strips of quarter round and molding were laid out on sawhorses and had been primed and painted. Most were dry enough to paint but had to be protected from rain. Volunteers laid the strips on the bed or our long utility trailer and were covered with cardboard and plastic. All this took place and then the bottom dropped out.
Most of our volunteers headed for the house and continued with the priming and painting of the walls. Our cabinet installer was scheduled for work time early Tuesday morning and the walls to the bathrooms and kitchen had to be finished and dry or it would hold up his donated time.
A few of us headed for the volunteer tent to see what needed to be made waterproof there. Boxes of t-shirts, cases of cups and packaged Poweraid had to be gotten up as water was already streaming down the pavement washing things downhill as it went. Our scrap pile of small pieces of wood could be seen floating past the house and on behind the TVFCU trailer where it came to rest against a fence. A box of #16 nails quickly waterlogged and bits of cardboard and nails went sailing downhill as well.
Just when we thought the sudden storm was letting up, the hail started. Marble sized pieces could be heard pinging off metal items and bouncing off boards. God truly put on a lightening show and almost as quickly as it started, it stopped. We started creeping out of the house and tent to survey the damage. Our ReStore display tent across the street took the worst beating as the top had given way and was bent down to the street.
Just as everyone had pitched in with getting the site secure, they worked on storm clean-up. Nails and materials were retrieved and the ReStore tent restored. The “rainbow” at the end of the storm for us was the temporary drop in temperature and wonderful wet smell of pavement and vegetation grateful for the shower.
Many, many thanks to our group from Bethel Bible Village for their good nature, quick thinking and response and for sharing a port in the storm!
