See, you shouldn't have pissed off the Ents by turning their friends into speaker cabinets!

Sorry to hear about the damage, Bill. I experienced a flood like that a number of years ago and it was no fun. Probably not as severe, but nevertheless inflicted plenty 'o wreckage. No one was killed AFAIK. But man, when Mother Nature wants to have her way with you she will!
If anything "positive" can be said about such things it's that it can bring out the best qualities in human nature. Everyone feels a little more connected because they all went through the same calamity. People you never met before will help you out. And perhaps it gives people a good reason to throw out a lot of junk from their home which might not otherwise been tossed! heh! And comparatively, it could've been worse. I saw a show about the 2004 tsunami and it was just mind blowing. One story was where a village of a thousand people were wiped out leaving ONE survivor. Can you imagine that? I can't conceive of what that must be like. Makes having to pump out one's basement seem pretty tame!