Glad they're safe!

My in laws live in NJ and their area was hit badly by hurricane Ire.ne. As Russ was talking to them this morning, the water kept rising until it was eventually seeping into their house through the floor. They are both older and not in the best health. Mary (MIL) has very bad legs from a car accident years ago and uses a motorized cart to get around and Don (FIL) is diabetic and has no feeling in his feet so he's very unsteady. Their garage is not attached to the house and had a lot of water in it so even if they could have gotten to it, it's doubtful whether their vehicles would even start. Russ called the fire department and they came to evacuate them with a pontoon boat. Very scary stuff! They had a house fire about six years ago that totally destroyed their home and they had to live in a very small trailer for months while waiting for the insurance paperwork to go through so they could rebuild. From the way it sounds, this house may also be a total loss. We are of course thankful that they were not hurt during either of these events, but what an ordeal to go through. I know that Russ feels helpless because we no longer live just a few minutes away from them. He was planning on going for Monday and Tuesday to help because he has an important delivery to make on Wednesday, but there is nothing that can really be done right now until the water recedes. His sister also wants to go and "help" and she may go anyway which will make things more difficult for them rather than being helpful. Deb is very pushy and feels that they are too old to be living on their own and wants them to move closer to her. Don was born and raised there and has lots of friends there and I doubt he will ever move. Mary would be willing to move but the aftermath of something like this is just not the time to try and force her will on them. As if they aren't stressed enough. After the fire Deb pushed very hard trying to get them to move and tried to convince them that they could no longer handle the house on their own. I am just so very thankful that they are safe and sound!