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1 Now I wasn’t too concerned about my apartment because it was on a third floor and not in a flooded area, but Lizzie’s house was smack dab in the middle of the most flooded part of town. 2 I immediately called her and let her know I was going back, and that if she wanted to come down and check on her house, I’d find a way to take her. Remember, they weren’t letting residents return yet — only business owners. She, of course, agreed. I drove to New Orleans in a rented car and picked Lizzie up at the airport. From there, we made our way to the city to check on my place, and then headed out to the country to check on her place. The closer we got, the more water we saw, until there was so much of it that we couldn’t drive any further. I couldn’t believe that after so much time, there was still so much water everywhere. In some places, the water looked to be only knee-deep, so theoretically we could’ve waded to Lizzie’s house, but our concern was more for what may have been lurking in that water than the water itself. With flooding comes alligators, snakes, rats and a host of other critters I’d rather avoid if at all possible, 3 thank you very much! It's bad enough that every log we passed was teeming with rats — I could only imagine what was waiting for us in those murky waters.
1 Now I wasn't too concerned... | This unstressed now at the beginning of sentence is used in storytelling to make a side note — to give some background or additional information unrelated to the story itself, but somehow relevant. In this case, I wanted to add that I was too scared as some background information, so that the reader knows how I was feeling at the time. This is irrelevant here because the gist of the sentence is where Lizzie's house was located. So it's just a little extra information.
2 I immediately called her | Note that in telling a story of any kind, it sounds more “narrative” to put temporal adverbs like always, sometimes, never, immediately, usually right before the main verb. In other words, saying I called her immediately or I saw him in town sometimes don’t sound as gripping or interesting in a narrative as I immediately called her or I sometimes saw him in town. We see this again a few sentences down in She, of course, agreed instead of Of course, she agreed or She agreed, of course.3 thank you very much! | We sometimes use thank you (very much) after mentioning something we don't want or don't like, as if to say "I'm not interested, but thank you very much!" This is usually meant to be sarcastic and at the same time funny.
to wadeThis basically means to WALK THROUGH water, mud, or any liquid that comes up to your ankle, shin or even knees with some effort. And not just people; birds like flamingos are often seen wading through lakes and ponds.
with [x] comes [y]The phrase to come with is used figuratively to refer to the things that a situation BRINGS. Even when this is a list of several things, as in this example, we tend to use the singular form comes: “With divorce comes depression, feelings of worthlessness, self-esteem issues and loneliness, so it’s a good idea to seek out a good therapist.”
smack dab in the middle The phrase smack dab is used in the sense of EXACTLY or RIGHT in the middle, center, heart of something. Note that both these words are stressed in this expression, and usually spoken slowly and deliberately for emphasis.
to lurk | [lʀːk] This verb is normally used with animals and monsters and basically means to be somewhere HIDING IN THE SHADOWS AND READY TO ATTACK. For instance, in this part of the story, we were nervous about what could be hiding in the water. If you’ve ever been in the ocean or a dark forest and have been afraid — not of what you could see, but of what you couldn’t see — that’s the essence of this verb; you were afraid of what might be lurking there.
a host ofThe word host basically refers to a HUGE GROUP of people or things. We usually use it when there are too many to list: “I didn’t invite you to my wedding for a host of reasons, least of which is the fact that you’ve been to Miami three times this year and you haven’t come to see me one time!”
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