Nisqually flooding leaves homeowners reeling: 'Where are we gonna live?'

THURSTON COUNTY, Wash. -- The heavy rains over the last couple of days, filled the LaGrande Dam forcing the release of water into the Nisqually Thursday and people just across the Thurston, Pierce County Line are feeling the impacts.

“It’s terrible. It’s gonna be pretty much a complete loss. We took everything we could to get it out. I don’t know what to do.”

Corey Mathis found his home under several feet of water, “Where are we gonna live? Where we gonna go? You know ... we've got family but I can’t go to my mom's. You know? So I don’t know. Gotta find a new place to live I guess.”

When Corey’s mom and neighbor,  Linda arrived Friday morning she was absolutely devastated at the sight of her home.

Linda’s home has several inches of water in her garage area that was converted into bedrooms.

Corey went to his home and discovered 6 to 8 inches of water on his main level,  “I just started crying because it’s my kids’ home. They don’t know anything else.”

Corey and his two young children are staying at a hotel until the water recedes.  When that will be is anybody’s guess.

“It’s hard when you have a family and you have kids. My son says, 'Dad, I wanna go home.' We don’t have one to go back to.”

He has lived at this home for years and went through the big flood of 1996 here, he had to basically rebuild his entire house. This time around, much of the same, “Everything has to be ripped out, gone through, all the floors are torn up, sheetrock's damaged.”

Despite more rain in the forecast, Corey is holding out hope that things won't get worse with the flooding, “I hope not … I mean isn’t it bad enough already?”

Both Corey and his mom, Linda both have insurance and were already out getting their claims started.