From: “Brian”
Date: August 11
Just read the Flood in Lisbon story.
I was the one who left the party with the author’s daughter Susan, and did not get to stay behind for the aftermath. I was the one who repainted their basement. Below my account:
When the levee broke the water flooded downward within the lower than sea-level garden where the party raged on indoors in the basement, and the far exit door opened inwards so we were trapped; the water was rising about an inch per second so we had only a minute to escape. We all connected arms and pulled together like monkeys in a string against the tide, and eventually Joel and I were waist deep at the water’s entrance trying to open the fuse box to disconnect the power. It was a foot below the box and splashing against the inner panel when Joel pulled the lever. So there were 40 kids stranded on the next floor up, and Joel and I swam up the stairs corridor to join them. Mrs Fawcett was freaking out and serving brandy, calling all the parents. On the second floor up they were changing into dry clothes and crying. Looking out at the street we saw cars floating by, but somehow Susan Bergesen and I decided to wade through to the other side of the street and go home because we lived nearby. Missed the aftermath inside the Fawcett compound, but everybody was buzzing about it at school the next day.
Begin forwarded message:
I actually found the handwritten invitation to the flood party November 25, 1967
