Time Ran Out In Wimberley, Texas.
In our little town of Wimberley. Texas, this Memorial Day weekend, time ran out for hundreds of families that live and vacation along the lovely Blanco (pronounced Blank-o) River.
Folks around here aren’t easily thrown by inclement conditions. We’re quite familiar with severe drought and with flash floods, to the extent that area meteorologists call our valley “Flash Flood Alley.”
But from an early age we’re taught how to deal with such things. We know to preserve water during times of drought, and to watch for rising water when warned of flash floods. We know to “Turn around, don’t drown” when roads build up standing water, and to go indoors when severe thunderstorms and damaging hail threaten.
But on last Saturday night, when between 6 and 10 inches of rain fell in the town of Blanco, just 20 miles upstream of Wimberley, no one expected the full downstream effect. The typically peaceful Blanco River rose 30 feet in just three hours, cresting at about 40 feet (as high as could be measured), 27 feet above flood stage, and seven feet higher than any previous record.
The Flash Flood warnings started going out at 8:30PM Saturday night, and continued through the evening, using language including “MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND NOW. ACT QUICKLY TO PROTECT YOUR LIFE.”
By late night, the warnings were upgraded to “flood emergency” and notices such as this were issued, “NUMEROUS HOMES HAVE BEEN FLOODED WITH HIGH WATER RESCUES ONGOING. BLANCO RIVER AT WIMBERLEY HAS RISEN TWELVE FEET IN THIRTY MINUTES AND AN ADDITIONAL RISE OF AT LEAST SIX FEET IS EXPECTED IN THE NEXT FEW HOURS.”
The warnings aired into Sunday morning, directing people in the area, “MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND NOW. THIS IS AN EXTREMELY DANGEROUS AND LIFE-THREATENING SITUATION.”
Many heard and heeded the warnings. Many others were sleeping. And still more heard the notices, but had lived on the Blanco for years and felt confident the flooding would never reach them.
The story has played out in other places with other critical events, many times over the years, but never before had it happened here, to our families.
That Sunday morning those of us on higher ground woke to the news that our lovely little town had been devastated. Homes had been ripped off foundations, others filled with water and sludge as treasured belongings were swept who knows where.
Bridges were torn apart, separating families, isolating entire neighborhoods from nearby schools and churches. 
Precious lives were lost and many more were missing.
Just three months earlier, local leaders had discussed their growing concerns about the area’s vulnerability to devastating flooding. They had met with officials and voted to extend funding for a study already underway for many years, to examine the flood risk for the region. But its purpose was to improve prediction methods of what might happen in a flood, not to address actual protection, mitigation, or clean up methods[i].
A Familiar Story
As I’ve witnessed the damage here in Wimberley, and heard first hand accounts of those friends who escaped or were rescued, I’ve been struck with the familiarity of their reports; with their similarity to stories told by families that had been devastated by addiction. Ours included.
The pattern’s the same. We, our children, and our loved ones, all had been taught about the danger of drugs, alcohol and other addictions. We all knew to “Say No To Drugs – Say Yes To Life.” And we were well drilled in ways to watch for the common signs of early substance use. We were aware that responding early would be the safest course of action. Most of us heard the warnings, but we knew our loved ones so well, and just never imagined that it could happen in our family.
So when it happened, when our children, spouse or others close to us, were swept away in addiction, we were left stunned. Disbelief, fear, denial, self-doubt (what did we miss?), confusion (where do we turn?) overwhelmed us. And when the earth-shattering moment of discovery passed, we were innundated with questions about cleaning up (and paying for) the mess that always follows in addiction’s wake.
And as we hear in the the flood stories told in Wimberley today, after assessing the damage, we who were struck with the news of addiction, moved quickly to the critical question, what can we do to help and hopefully restore those we love?
And we prayed.
Time Is Running Out Fast For Those Dealing With Addiction
If you are among the millions of people facing a growing threat of addiction in your family or community, you’re likely being deluged with warnings, as were residents in Wimberley, alerting you to an extremely dangerous and life-threatening situation.
But unlike the situation in Wimberley, where residents were pressed repeatedly to leave the area, officials in the addiction industry persist in advising us to stay where we are; to trust that they have the difficult situation in hand. They urge that we not abandon their diagnosis or method of treatment; that we not question their questionable evidence or long-held belief that addiction is a chronic brain disease with no real escape. And they tech us to persuade others to do the same.
Unlike the authorities in Wimberley who used their full resources to get all available information out to the people in danger, officials in the addiction industry behave more like the town mayor in Jaws 1. Remember him? He feared that if people were to learn the truth about the dangerous waters it would ruin tourism and his town’s source of income, and so convinces others to 
join him in telling a different story – a story without risk of attaching a stigma to the popular tourist spot.
But just as the beach-goers found in Jaws 1, all the false narratives about addiction don’t make the danger go away. They just give it time to grow worse.
This is right smack dab where we find ourselves today, as we continue to battle the growing threat of addiction, and the false narratives that keep us from learning the truth about this very real danger. In case you missed parts 1, https://www.thestandrecovery.com/making-the-case/ and 2a, https://www.thestandrecovery.com/what-difference-does-it-make-how-addiction-is-defined/ of my post series, Making The Case against the false narratives of the addiction industry, you might want to check them out before I post my the concluding piece.
In the meantime, keep praying.
I hope that you return to The Stand very soon.
[i] http://www.texastribune.org/2015/05/26/central-texas-flooding-fears-date-back-decades/