The rain came down in sheets, turning the roads of Hayes County into a quagmire. Families were stranded for up to five days. Water in several wells was contaminated. Crops were washed out and fences were flattened, creating open range for cattle.

So, with all that taking place, how would you expect the people of Hayes County to react: With anger? With frustration? With questions of "Why us? What did we do to deserve this?"

If that's what you thought, you would be wrong. The people of Hayes County faced up to the siege of rain and flooding in the opposite way. They were tough. They were determined. They helped each other cope. They made do the best they could in the wake of the most amount of rain to hit parts of the county in 60 years.

No one will ever know for sure how much rainfall there was at the farmstead of Mackay and Betty Brown, located in the northeast part of Hayes County. But it was a bunch. Their son, Ralph, located on a neighboring farm, had an accurate measurement of more than 15 inches, and there was probably even more rain at Mackay and Betty's place.

"It washed out the three roads leading to our home," Betty said. "All were unpassable." That meant the Browns were stranded. They couldn't get out and no one could get in with ground transportation.

Would that make you a basket case? Not the Browns. "We're used to it," Betty said. "Mackay's grandparents homesteaded this place in 1895 and Mackay's lived here throughout his 79 years of life. I joined him 58 years ago when we were married. Since I've been here we have never had this much rain, but we have had blizzards which made it impossible to get out for a few days."

But, in the past, there have been rains at the Brown place of equal severity. "Mackay remembers a 12-inch rain which fell 60 years ago," Betty said. "This year's rain totaled more over the two days, but the rain back then all fell in one day."

It helped, this time around, that the Browns never lost electricity or phone service. "We also have a good supply of food on hand," Betty said. "We could probably get by for three months if we had to."

Finally, after the standing water went down a little, the Browns called in Sheldon "Doc" Spickelmier of Curtis to bulldoze the roads and create a way for them to get out if they had to. That was Friday. They had been marooned since Tuesday.

The Browns' neighbors also had problems. At Alvin and Jo Werkmeister's bin site, the water reached the seats of their semi truck, "Alvin is six foot tall, and the water was up to his neck," Jo said.

Despite the deep water and road damage, Hayes County survived the rainy days without human death or injury. A week later, however, Tyler Clifford, 15, suffered broken collarbones and ribs when his four-wheeler overturned when he was checking windmills and cattle. He drove through tall grass into a blowout, which may have been aggravated by the rainstorms.

Looking back on the storm, which started on Memorial Day, Hayes County's fire chief, Randy Hawn, Sheriff Tom Dow and emergency manager, Char-lynn Hamilton, paid tribute to the volunteers for their efforts. "They were out until 3 o'clock Tuesday morning and were at in again for long hours Tuesday night and Wednesday," Chief Hawn said. The Hayes County officials also expressed their appreciation to those in neighboring counties who helped, including contributors of bottled water and road equipment.

It will take hundreds of thousands of dollars -- if not more than a million -- to fix the storm-slashed roads of Hayes County. But no money is needed to tend to the hearts and spirit of Hayes County's people. They are staunch and strong ... just as they have been since homestead days.