GERMANTOWN, Tenn. — After historic flooding destroyed nearly every home in a Germantown neighborhood earlier this summer, one family took a big step Monday.
After more than three months away, the Frost family is back at Guyboro Cove, and they’re hopeful that soon, all their neighbors will rejoin them and the street will be full of life again.
You’d have no clue by walking around their home now, but three months ago, the Frosts’ house took on 3-4 feet of water in every room, ruining nearly everything they owned.
“It’s hard to believe you can get that much damage from water being in the house for that short a period of time,” James Frost said.
“It was very overwhelming, and we just didn’t know which way to turn,” Elise Frost said. “The first thing we had to do was get everything out of the house.”
After the flood ravaged areas of Georgetown, the family took it day-by-day, a pain-staking process of putting their home together piece by piece.
Now, only a few items of furniture and two areas of the original floor remain. It’s new, but they finally have a home again.
“I love the way it’s looking now,” Elise Frost said. “I wouldn’t have had it happen this way for anything in the world. I told Jim, I’ve been after you to get this house renovated, but I didn’t mean for God to do it this way.”
The Frosts are the first family to return to their street. Dumpsters remain as cleaning continues, and residents stop by every few days to check the progress of their own rebuilding efforts.
“Remember, this was a $7 million loss, and that takes a while to recover from,” Kristina Garner with Germantown Helps said. “People need to know that it’s still ongoing.”
“We’re all tired,” James Frost said. “I think that’s one of the things that is probably affected a lot of us. There’s been so much to do and to get done.”
The Frosts look forward to the day when they’re surrounded by their neighbors again.
“I’m happy, I’m happy for the rest of them,” Elise Frost said. “And I want for all of them to get back into their houses, so we can get back to normal living.”
This is not a flood risk area, so none of these homeowners had flood insurance. Anyone who would like to donate time or resources can go to Germantown Helps.