Neighbors turn up in droves after Orderville homeowner struck with flash flood

ORDERVILLE, Kane County — Sabrina Dubay says as rains hit Kane County Monday, a flash flood pushed through her front yard, bringing with it a landslide of mud and debris.

"(I've) never seen anything like this, ever," Dubay said. "We've got water and just debris coming from people's houses up the hill downriver. We had a whole culvert come through (the) river across the street."

Dubay said she was not at home when the flash flood pushed through. She initially heard in a phone call from her partner.

"He's like, 'I'm upstairs with the dog. I don't know what to do. Like, literally, I can't exit the house right now,'" she explained.

She arrived home moments later to find the barrage of mud and debris, along with their ATV, trailer, and camper nearly washed into the river below. Dubay said it appeared that a beam that had washed down from someone else's property narrowly protected the machines from falling down the bank.

"What we're hearing from the people in the town is like, this hasn't happened since the late 70s, maybe early 80s," Dubay said.

But what came nearly as fast as the waters were the numbers of willing volunteers, ready to help clear the mud and debris.

"All I needed to do was pull over and call every friend I have in town," she explained. "And every friend I had was over within three minutes, with another friend who brought another friend. So like, the whole town just showed up within minutes of my phone call"

Those helpers used shovels, buckets, even tractors to help clean up and pull Dubay's camper and ATV away from the riverbank.

"There's no hesitation. They are waist-deep in the mud with you in minutes if you need them," Dubay said. "I was crying. I was in tears, just so happy to have help, honestly."

Most of the damage happened outside the house, though Dubay said some mud made it into her entryway, laundry room and a bathroom. Still, the Massachusetts transplant says she and her partner, who moved to the town, say they've never experienced a community response quite like this.

"It was one of the coolest experiences," Dubay said. "Really chaotic and really upsetting, but really cool, like communal experience that I've just not really had before in my life."

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