Parents of 10 have plenty of help after flood

By Mashaun D. Simon

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Brian and Susan Hillis have seen bigger tragedies than the flooding that struck their Lilburn home this week.

That may be why they chose to get busy right away, cleaning and repairing their home four days after high water flooded 70 percent to 80 percent of their house.

“We need to get some electricity down there so that we can get some fans in and air that place out,” Brian Hillis, 59, said Friday while at Gwinnett County offices applying for a building permit. “The longer we let the moisture sit, the bigger of a mess it will be if mold starts to set in.”

As the parents of 10, ages 15-25, they will have lots of help with the cleanup.

It’s a family that grew after a loss.

In 1995, the Hillis’ son, a day before his 10th birthday, was riding his bike when a car stuck and killed him.

A year later they had the opportunity to adopt two Russian children.

“It turned out that the little girl we adopted had a best friend at the orphanage,” Brian Hillis said. “She dearly loved that little girl. What we did not know was that she had two brothers there with her.”

So they adopted all three.

A year later they got a phone call. There were another three children related to the ones they adopted that had been abandoned by their mother after their father died.

“We never planned to end up with 10,” Brian Hillis said. “It just happened that way. We felt it was necessary to keep the family together.”

The family had to move quickly after the Yellow River forced its way into their home on Rangewood Drive.

Brian Hillis was in Charlotte when Susan called him Sunday night to tell him about the flooding.

“She heard water coming into the house through the basement,” he said. “A half-hour later, the water forced open a back door.”

By Monday morning there was eight feet of water in the basement.

The next morning, at 7:30 a.m., he was on the road headed back. By noon, he was home, and by that evening they grabbed all they could and left for safety. They moved everything they could onto the second level of the home. By Monday night, the basement and first floor were completely under water.

They are not moved much by the loss. Possessions, Brian Hillis said, are things you have because you need them to some extent.

“It is all pretty overwhelming, but in life you have to march on,” Hillis said. “You do what you have to do. We have a lot of work ahead of us — and yes, it is a setback — but there are bigger things to be concerned with.”