It has officially been two months since Jeff and Jeri Tarvin were evacuated from their home on Alexandria Pike.
The Tarvins work for Anderson Community Schools – Jeff as a custodian and Jeri as a teacher at Eastside Elementary School.
The morning of Aug. 13, they had both left for work. Their son, Tom Osselaer, went to check on their house and noticed an evacuation notice on the door.
Throughout the day, water from a private pond behind the Tarvins' home inched closer to the house. The next day, with Alexandria Pike flooded, Osselaer took a kayak down the road to check on his parents' house.
On Aug. 15, the Tarvins returned to their home to find all of their possessions destroyed.
"When we evacuated," Jeff Tarvin said, "we evacuated with the idea that we're going to have a little bit of water in (the house), and we're going to be gone for the weekend, so let's grab two to three days' worth of clothes. We came back and had to start sopping up water.
"Everything on the floor was trashed," he continued. "Things on counters were destroyed. We opened up the drawers and they were full of water."
Jeri Tarvin said many people have reached out to help the family, including those in the neighborhood.
"We probably know our neighbors more now than ever because we're all walking through this together," Jeri Tarvin said. "Some of us have flood insurance, some of us don't. Some of us are renters, some are homeowners. … It's been interesting figuring out how we can help each other and how we can step up for each other and connect people to each other. Community has been so important in this."
The Tarvins said at its peak, the water level in their home rose to three to four feet. The floodwaters, Jeff Tarvin noted, were so powerful that their kitchen island, bolted to the floor and containing heavy dishes and cookware, had completely fallen on its side.
The Tarvins said they have flood insurance, and they applied for and received nearly immediate help from the City of Anderson and FEMA.
"We went to Parkview Church of the Nazarene, and got to sit down with FEMA there and the Small Business Administraton," Jeff Tarvin said. "We have an apartment in the back of the house, and we were looking for some assistance there.
"As soon as we started talking to those people, we started getting a lot of information, like, 'these people can help here, these people can help there.'"
Earlier this week, the Tarvin's received a permit to rebuild their home. Currently, there is no furniture in any of the rooms, and all of the interior walls have been removed.
Their son is their contractor, and his business, K.O. Construction, is working on the house. Originally, the Tarvins were thinking it would take nine to 12 months before their home was fully restored. Now they are hoping that it will only take six to nine months.
While their home is being rebuilt, the Tarvins are staying with friends.
This article appeared in The Herald Bulletin.