River Rats
By Revia Perrigin
The
dirty rushing water of the Tombigbee River covered the land for miles. The musky water filled with snakes, toys,
fish and debris surrounded my house.
Brown blobs of fire ants floated to an unknown destination.
The Corp
of Engineer's prediction of the river's crest was Biblical to us. Living on a dead-end road, I am caught in a
circular nimbus when the river overflows .
A boat is the only transportation out of the watery plateau.
During
the flood of '72, most of the north side of Columbus flooded. The water rose quickly with such fury the
residents had no time to save possessions.
Mud and silt covered my floors after four feet of water invaded my
home. The only thing to remain dry was
Miss Beasley. Her blue and yellow
polka-dotted body was lying on a floating mattress. Today, Miss Beasley sits with her feet
dangling off an old trunk.
Neighbors
helped each other during high water. My
neighbor, Philip's house was invaded by ebbing water several times a year. Cement blocks were placed under his furniture
to defy the atrocious water.
The
water between our houses was too shallow to use a paddle. Philip pulled me in his twelve foot aluminum
boat to his house. We maneuvered blocks
under the furniture and kitchen appliances.
Getting one end of the bed on blocks we tried to raise the other
end. The end already placed on blocks
would fall. The bed was see-sawed up and down. After much straining and
pushing, the job was finished.
The
river was steadily rising. Philip
wearing rubber hip overalls and rubber boots started pulling home. The slippery ground made it hard to
stand. Philip slipped and eventually
managed to climb into the wobbly boat.
Climbing into the freezing waist high water, I pulled Philip home. My attire was not suitable for wading river
water. My tennis shoes, blue jeans,
shirt, and jacket clung to my body and I arrived home chilled to the bone.
Today
there is the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway.
My house is in the city limits with city services. A stranger would never imagine this vast
acreage was covered by floods several times a year. The media named us "River Rats".
The "River Rats", including myself has lived here since the 1960's. There are many stories I could tell about
living in a flood prone area. Philip and
I raising his furniture is a comical memory.
We were fighting the mighty Tombigbee River.