Life doesn't stop for Northern Michigan families returning home after flooding

Along the Sturgeon River near Indian River, Michigan, homes are damaged, and families are just now getting back inside.

CBS News Detroit met a couple that is still processing what happened after losing the majority of their personal belongings. It's a situation that Alissa Hanel and her boyfriend, Dan Paull, never considered a possibility. 

"It's been terrible. It's inconvenient, but at least we have somewhere to go right now," Hanel said. 

Hanel saw the damage flooding caused to her home for the first time on Friday. 

"We're just taking it one day at a time right now," she said. "Everything is lost right now, you know what I mean; we don't know what to do. We've had, like, donations from the chamber of commerce, and, like, girls from my work at Biggby were great. They brought me a whole bunch of stuff yesterday."

Hanel says she's shocked and feels helpless, but life doesn't stop. Hanel still has to go to work and keep going as she figures out what comes next. 

"We have to. We need the money, and right now, it's so hard to find a place to live here anyway, so it's very scarce everywhere. And then to lose everything, so when we get a place, what do we put in it?" the couple said. 

It's a devastating loss for the couple, but Hanel and Paull say they are just glad they have their lives. 

For now, the couple will continue living out of a motel until they can find a more permanent solution. In the meantime, they've launched an online fundraising account in hopes of receiving some support.