“You want some rain?” the Lord said, listening to us drone on about the drought. “How about the most rain in 90 years?!” [His omnipotence allows him to speak in hyperlinks.]

“It’s great weather for shovin’ a microphone into people’s faces!” I replied and stumbled out into the rain this week.

The number of people getting stuck in high water gave me a captive audience to ask them how they feel about their cars stalling. That sounds callous, but my experience as the greatest reporter in Texas [I’ve been told I don’t publicize that enough. Hashtag: Branding] has been that if you really do take an interest in what people have to say instead of searching for a soundbite, they open up more.

After a tornado years ago, one gentleman whose home had been destroyed said talking through it helped him feel better. This woman was more blunt about her position on her car stalling.

Another woman had also stalled while driving her son to school. She felt like she had a fightin’ chance after seeing others cross successfully.

In situations like that, it’s interesting to hear how people keep a positive attitude. The guy in the tornado I mentioned above had lost his house, but he said that showed him he’d been taking his family for granted. He said he didn’t mind the headache of replacing his stuff as long as his wife and kids were okay.

Similarly, when the water started creeping up on the woman and her son, they got out and stood on the raised median. There, they started betting on which other cars would make it across and which would wind up joining them.

One of the cars that did make it? A school bus. A school bus, I would add, that appeared to empty and had to navigate around my car in the background. It’s possible I decided against trying to drive through the water after getting fired from my last job when a company car got water damage in a hurricane.

Police were blocking a lot of the underpasses with high water. The police chief says they had been stretched thin, too, because 28 of their squad cars had water damage.

Define irony: So many roads were flooded, I couldn’t reach a press conference where Dallas Fire Rescue was planning to give an update on road conditions.

On the way home, a creek had started flooding in Haltom City. The fire department was telling people to evacuate and had the ambulance provider on standby. The water there had receded quickly, though, and neighbors were helping each other out. One guy was giving a jump to another whose car got water damage.

The guy jumping the other car made a strong point: We get it, Lord, we were babbling on about needing rain, but You know this isn’t what we meant.