Wylde Ivy and The Flood of 06

Since we’ve gotten so many concerned emails and well wishes from our customers we thought you might all like to know what is going on at Wylde Ivy.

We really wish to thank you all for your thoughts, well wishes, and prayers. It was much appreciated and reading everyone’s emails was a great way to pass the time while we were evacuated and waiting to be let back into town to see our house.

Our business area is the entire first floor of our house. We started to flood a little last Tuesday morning into our business and we did have time to remove almost our entire inventory as well as some important supplies. The flooding quickly turned major as water started rushing in the front door of the business entrance. With the help of family and even the rescue workers (who probably wondered what kind of business we were running with all the bottles and strange powders they were carrying) we managed to get even more of our items out before it became too risky to stay any longer. My husband and I packed our two dogs and ourselves and headed for “higher ground”. We watched the TV and listened to the radio trying to find out what might be happening to our business and home. From the news reports we began to gather it wasn’t good.

The entire business space was gone, we knew that. We could only hope that the water did not reach our second floor of our home. From pictures sent to us we knew it was very close to going in the front door of our home. To make matters worse, all the inventory and supplies we grabbed from the storage rooms were literally thrown up onto our second floor, which was in danger. Finally then next afternoon the roads opened and we were able to get in to see the damages. The entire business floor had been covered by seven feet of water as we had suspected, but miraculously it stayed mere inches from the main floor of our home.

So with inventory and some supplies saved, our home intact, and most importantly all my family safe we feel very lucky and suspect it is largely due to everyone’s thoughts and prayers. The only casualty Wylde Ivy suffered was the loss of the pond goldfish that lived in front of our business entrance for the last 7 years. They were much beloved members of our business and often had customers coming in just to visit them!

So we begin the cleaning process. We were planning on gutting the entire work area soon and updating everything, so this was just a nudge into doing it sooner….with just a little more mud and water then we had planned on having to remove. At this point I really can’t say when Wylde Ivy will be totally back to normal. It was a full time operation that spanned several large rooms and a few smaller storage rooms.

For now I am setting up a temporary workspace and going through the tedious task of logging inventory and supplies to see what needs to be remade and reordered. I will be filling all the pending orders first, then I will begin to adjust the inventory on the website to reflect what is currently available before reopening the website. I am hoping to be able to have the website open with limited inventory around the end of July.

We would not even be close to this stage of rebuilding if it weren’t for the help of family, friends, and all the selfless volunteers that stopped by to lend a hand in the tearing out of walls, floors, and ceilings and the cleaning and removing of debris. While out on a supply run last week, my husband and I came home to find five volunteers from a church over an hour away already hard at work helping our family members gut the damaged areas. The Red Cross has been here from the beginning offering food, water, and supplies and we have also received supplies from the Salvation Army. Actually, as I write this, the Red Cross is outside my home delivering lunch to those that need it. There have been numerous volunteer groups (like the group I mentioned) helping with the rebuilding of our neighborhood and lending a hand where needed. To see people reach out in such a generous way during such a bad time is truly inspiring.

Thank you again.
Sincerely,
The Wyle Ivy Family