Four Generations of Flood Damage
A family of flood victims loses homes, uses new business to shelter community.
July 4, 2007 — -- The Oklahoma floods have turned what was planned as a family restaurant opening into a relief center for rescue workers in one waterlogged town.
Linda Lee planned to open her restaurant, Mom's, Thursday in Miami, Okla., but nature had another plan. After her four-generation family lost its homes, it began to use the new business as a shelter for family members and others in the community.
Grandmother Agnes Lloyd's house was the first to flood, then her daughter, Lee's, and then Lee's daughter, Shannon Blackstock, lost her home before the entire block they called home was destroyed as storms continued to flood Oklahoma.
"Three different houses and they're all wiped out," Lee said, shaking her head in disbelief.
Like so many in the town, the family had no flood insurance, so the restaurant is all that is left. The family has been sleeping there at night and trying to stay busy inside throughout the day during the rains.
Blackstock's 8-year-old daughter, Kat, has been pitching in at the restaurant as a waitress, despite the loss of her home. "She doesn't understand that she's lost everything, that she doesn't have a bed to sleep in," Blackstock said.
The restaurant is now a gathering spot for its owners and other flood victims, and for the Fourth of July, they offered free meals to relief workers.
When asked how she can give anything away for free after losing her home, Lee said, "It's only stuff."
"There's people that have lost more than we have," Blackstock said. "We still have each other."
And they still have dreams — they say their restaurant will open soon and they hope it will continue for generations.
"I've worked with my daughter, and I've worked with my granddaughter — haven't ever had to work with my mom," Lee said jokingly.
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