Life in New Jersey wasn’t what Nicole Stewart and Jessica Kerber wanted for their families, so nearly eight years ago, both families moved to Kauai and settled in Anahola. For over a year now, they’d both been planning on moving back to the East Coast to be closer to extended family.
Then the rains came.
The Stewarts will be moving to St. Augustine, Fla., while the Kerbers will be moving back to New Jersey.
“Our container was getting delivered on a Wednesday and the flood came on a Sunday morning,” said Stewart. “So we had things in boxes, everything down below, ready to go, and it’s gone now.”
For Stewart, the thought of leaving Kauai has always been difficult because she loves it here. She loves the people and her children’s school, but because they’re so far away from their extended family, her children haven’t been able to get to know their relatives.
“I’m excited for that. I’m excited for them to have their cousins, grandma, their aunts and uncles all there to experience that, but I will for sure miss Kauai,” she said.
Stewart and her husband lost about $100,000 in April’s flooding. They won’t be getting any assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. And since the flood, her husband, who is a carpenter, hasn’t been able to work because he lost his truck, tools and trailer.
“Really, really, it’s a brand-new start for everything,” she said. “We’ve been dealing with recovery for the last month and moving, so once we get to Florida where we’re going, we’re going to wrap our heads around how to move forward from there.”
Across the valley, Kerber was helping her husband get ready for work on the day of the flood, when she received a phone call from their landlord, warning the river was going to breach its banks. Without any hesitation, her husband hopped into her van and drove it to higher ground.
“In the time it took for him to take it to the top of the hill to turn in, it had gone from a foot and a half, knee deep, to waist deep,” she said.
The waters were rising so quickly, Kerber said, her husband was worried he wouldn’t be able to make it back to his family. He wasn’t able to save his vehicle.
For several hours, they sat on their lanai watching the rain fall and the waters rise and rage.
“The trees and the debris falling, we just kind of stood here in awe,” she said. “And we knew — we’d been in a flood previously, living in that cottage in 2012, where it came up very high as well — that there was nothing we could do, no one to call, nothing we could do but to pray and hope for the best.”
By 7:30 a.m., the rain stopped.
“This whole valley, all the way even on the other side, the cow pasture, as far as the eye could see all the way around, there was just water covering it,” she said. “And then when it receded, there’s mud and muck and trees, debris, appliances, everything.”
One thing Kerber learned about herself during this experience is that you don’t know what you’re capable of until you’re put to a test.
“I do believe whatever higher power you believe in gives you what you can handle and it’s meant to teach you a lesson in some way,” she said. “I just keep reminding myself in those moments of sadness and stress and just wanting to scream, ‘You know what? It could be worse, there’s something good that’s going to come of this.’”
Because they experienced that flood in 2012, Kerber knew it would be difficult to stay in their current home, because it’s in a flood zone.
“We’ve gotten lucky twice. This is the second time. Who knows what will happen the third time,” she said. “So it’s kind of a blessing in disguise we were already planning the move.”
Even so, seeing how the community came together for valley residents during the cleanup makes their move bittersweet. The valley, Kerber said, is a magical place and has been an amazing place to live and raise their kids.
“That is what makes it hard to leave here, because everyone embracing you with open arms and lending whatever they have, whether (it’s) the clothes off their back, their tools, their time, their efforts, that was amazing and it made a huge difference to us,” she said.
Stewart and Kerber said not many people knew about the 2012 flood. This time, the outpouring of love and support has helped them get through.
“Amongst all the sadness we’re feeling, I also have a feeling like I’ve never had before, like such an amount of love,” Stewart said. “That’s definitely helped lift us up.”
