METAMORA, Ind. — Scroll to the bottom of this article for information about how you can help.
He still remembers the smell.
Steven Nobbe served in the military for a decade, where he deployed to Iraq. He said he has dealt with his share of trauma. But he is not talking about that. He is talking about the smell from the river.
The one that flooded across corn fields behind his house last week.
"We had trees floating in through the backyard," Nobbe said.
In front of his home, he opens a trailer and makes an audible noise.
"It's horrible," Nobbe said. "It smells like sadness."
His trailer is full of clothes, pictures and boxes his family tried to save — because they had to evacuate after the water engulfed their home. On Tuesday, he walks through his house for the first time since workers removed some of the black mold.
Dehumidifiers are running in every room.
"It definitely smells better," Nobbe said. "But it don't look better."
Like most people in Metamora, he did not have flood insurance. Right now, Nobbe and his daughter are staying in their camper.
He does not know for how long.
WATCH: Flooding might cost blind woman in Metamora her home
A few houses up the street, Debbie Mann swings on her front porch. It is one of the 73-year-old's favorite places to relax. But she is only here now because her daughter is working on ripping out the drywall inside.
Mann has lived here for decades, right on the corner. She is blind, but knows every inch of the home.
"Well, I used to," Mann said. "But I can't say I do today."
She yells at her daughter, Tiffanie Green, trying to get her attention. She asks her about a loud bang she just heard.
"Mom, your second floor is coming down," Green said.
Green tells her the only thing holding up her bedroom is a small piece of wood. After Green shows the damage, I ask her to explain what the last week has been like.
"I don't want to — or I'll cry," Green said. "Because it's my childhood home."
Green said they do not have the money to repair it. She then helps her mom down the stairs and into her SUV. Green's husband is mowing grass for their neighbors. She asks him to pick up their kids from school.
She has to go to work.
Want to help?
If you’d like to help, you can drop off donated supplies at the Grist Mill on Main Street in Metamora and at the Indiana Farm Bureau office in Brookville. The Franklin County Community Foundation also accepts donations.
Mann also has a GoFundMe you can access by clicking here. And Nobbe has one you can get by clicking this link.
