The flood that made me?

While Eastern Kentucky is known for coal, rugged and beautiful scenery, and a heritage of independent people, it is also notorious for dangerous flooding.

As I write this, 37 people have died in floodwaters pounding Eastern Kentucky counties such as Knott, Perry (with the aptly named county seat of Hazard), and Letcher. 

Harlan County, my birthplace, has largely been spared the devastation of other areas of Eastern Kentucky. That was not always true. They've dealt with many a flood in the past when the Cumberland River and its feeder forks overflowed their banks. (I wonder if the river was thinking, hey, when you have more rain than you can hold, what do you expect us to do with it?)

After a 100-year flood in 1977, Harlan County had had enough. And over the next years, they built a flood control system that involved, among other things, the rerouting of certain areas of the Cumberland River. So far, in this 2022 flood, it seems to be working.

But before that 100-year flood, Harlan County struggled through its battle with floodwaters. 

Mid-March, 1963, was one of those battles.  It was a week where it rained, and the riverbanks overflowed, and people either had to evacuate due to rising floodwaters or stay in the house because they couldn't go anywhere unless it was by boat. One of my Facebook friends, writer Karen Nolan, remembers getting typhoid shots during that time. 

I've seen pictures of Harlan County floods, of cars that were washed downstream and wound up on Main Street stacked next to each other, of water that reached roof level, of people who have lost everything. 

There was one benefit to that flood, though.

I didn't know until a few years ago that there had been a flood in Harlan in March of 1963.  I'd seen a photo of a flood in Hazard from that time but didn't know it had hit Harlan as well. 

Exactly seven months from that week of rain, water, mud, and destruction . . . I was born.

And I was a preemie.

When I learned that a flood had hit Harlan in March of 1963, and I did the math, I thought, this flood was possibly responsible for my conception. After all, if you can't go anywhere due to water . . . 

(I will say this:  Although my parents' house was not too far from the Cumberland River, it was on a hilltop and, to the best of my knowledge, the water did not come high enough to do major damage. My family was lucky. They did not suffer the losses that so many other families did.)

Right now, so many Eastern Kentuckians have lost so much. It's possible that the death toll will rise from this 2022 flood. Coming back from this flood will take time and energy, and I wonder if some Kentuckians think that rebuilding their lives will take more energy than they have right now. 

Right now is a time to reach a hand out, donate, pray, check on any family in the area. 

But maybe, just maybe, in about nine months -- or maybe a little sooner -- this flood might yield a tiny crop of blessings. 

After all, at least one blessing came from a 1963 flood!

Just my .04, adjusted for inflation.