Operation Save a Mum

The church service was the shortest I have ever experienced. We had one song, and a couple of verses, but shortly after the verses began to be expounded upon, we were informed that Kathy's mums were floating away. Kathy is the wife of Pr Mark, and she sells flowers. Flowers that were sitting in the field in pots. The field that the flood waters were gushing through.
Several of us ran outside, loaded into a couple of cars, and drove the short distance to the Griffin Gardens. And thus began the Great Mum Rescue of Hurricane (Tropical Storm) Irene.
I was the most casually dressed of the group, having opted not to wear a saree as I had been planning. I was in my next nicest clothes, which were jeans and a hoody. And sandals. Everyone else was in nicer church clothes; button down shirts, polos, khakis, etc. But that stopped no one. Everyone dove right in (almost literally) as we worked to rescue the plants.
The water was rushing through the field, cutting paths through the rows of pots, sending plants tumbling. At times, we would see a plant beginning to tumble downstream, and we would lunge for it, catching it just in time. The plants that were not reached quickly enough ended up in a heap at the bottom of the field. They were left to the water. For now at least.
After a few trips across the field to get plants and then back to dry ground, I didn't think I could get any wetter. I was wrong. Eventually my hoody was so soaked that I probably could have wrung a gallon of water from it. And still we continued; getting as many plants as possible to safety.
Toward the end, when we were getting tired, and doing the last batch, which was one where we had to walk upstream with hands full of pots, the reinforcements arrived in the shape of a neighbour with a 4-wheeler and a trailer. This trailer could hold about 15 plants, plus I (sitting on the back of the wheeler with my feet on the trailer) could hold 6 more. We couldn't go too fast, and the wheeler had a hard time getting up to the road where it was washed out, but it was still quicker than slogging through the water.
And finally, we were done. The plants we could save were on higher ground or behind barriers that deflected the water. There were many that were lost, but it was not nearly as bad as it could have been.
It was still pouring madly when we made our way out of the field and went to get dry clothes. At this point, we were all starting to feel the chill in the air. We were ok when we were moving, but a moment's pause made a chance for the cold to creep in. It is days like this where you thank the Lord for warm houses, dry clothes, and a dryer to dry those clothes that are soaked.