Tuesday, February 25, 2003
I guess I am finally far enough away from my 'flood day' to write about it.
We have a walkout from our finished basement (a sliding door). This slider has two different hills leading toward it, but there is a valley in between the hills leading out towards the side street. Anyway, in the past we have never had any problems with water there.
This storm was different. :-( Biggest snow fall in 138 years, then a week later a big 1.5 inch rain storm. The snow turned to wet mush. Some of the water ran down the hill towards the door and a down spout leads off there too.
Anyway, up to 2 feet of wet snow was blocking the water from running toward the street. :-( I guess, luckily, the three kids and I were downstairs. Alyssa went on that side of the basement and got upset started yammering about something, jumped up and down and pointed towards the slider. I looked, saw water gushing in from the window, but not much on the floor yet, kept myself from cursing and sent the kids upstairs with permission to watch the TV as a baby-sitter. :-P
First thing I did was call Bill at the hair dresser. he couldn't come right a way. I took out the steam cleaner and tried to vacuum up the water. It worked for 2 gallons and then it stopped working. :-( Later I found out the filter was clogged with dirt. Anyway, I ran upstairs, got dressed and put on boots.
I decided to leave by the slider downstairs as any other way would mean slippery walking to get to the problem. WHen I opened the door, water GUSHED in like a river. The water level was at least 1/2 an inch above the window sill, the window was keeping much out. I shoveled and shoveled while standing in 8 inches of water with ice floating in it. Every time I shoveled the wet slush, there was more water.
Finally I realized that I was a woman with a bad back and high blood pressure and I was starting to huff and puff. The water was below the sill level by this time, but still not running toward the street. I called a couple of neighbors who I remember the phone numbers of and fortunately they came to help me out. When we finally got the trough over the little hill and the water started running down the other side it was amazing! It was like a river, with a LOT of water. It kept on running and running. Just about this time, Bill came home. :-P He took off my boots and my feet HURT! He ran to Home Depot to buy a wet vac but it hasn't done _that_ much good.
I like to think that it would have been a lot worse if I didn't start work on it right away, but I am not sure. The carpet seems ruined, the water abatement people haven't been here yet and seem like assh*les, the insurance guy hasn't been here yet and officially, by the books, I probably don't qualify for insurance because it falls under the flood exclusion with is pretty broad. I have to try anything, though.
I think the only major thing damaged is the carpet and a lot of time lost to cleanup. Remember, this is a basement/playroom and has like a billion pieces all over the place. It also has the computer, two couches, a futon, a Little Tykes type slide and climbing toy, and a ~400 lb air hockey set. We are probably going to pull the carpet out ourselves tomorrow, should be a pain... Maybe we can actually throw some stuff out?????
We have a walkout from our finished basement (a sliding door). This slider has two different hills leading toward it, but there is a valley in between the hills leading out towards the side street. Anyway, in the past we have never had any problems with water there.
This storm was different. :-( Biggest snow fall in 138 years, then a week later a big 1.5 inch rain storm. The snow turned to wet mush. Some of the water ran down the hill towards the door and a down spout leads off there too.
Anyway, up to 2 feet of wet snow was blocking the water from running toward the street. :-( I guess, luckily, the three kids and I were downstairs. Alyssa went on that side of the basement and got upset started yammering about something, jumped up and down and pointed towards the slider. I looked, saw water gushing in from the window, but not much on the floor yet, kept myself from cursing and sent the kids upstairs with permission to watch the TV as a baby-sitter. :-P
First thing I did was call Bill at the hair dresser. he couldn't come right a way. I took out the steam cleaner and tried to vacuum up the water. It worked for 2 gallons and then it stopped working. :-( Later I found out the filter was clogged with dirt. Anyway, I ran upstairs, got dressed and put on boots.
I decided to leave by the slider downstairs as any other way would mean slippery walking to get to the problem. WHen I opened the door, water GUSHED in like a river. The water level was at least 1/2 an inch above the window sill, the window was keeping much out. I shoveled and shoveled while standing in 8 inches of water with ice floating in it. Every time I shoveled the wet slush, there was more water.
Finally I realized that I was a woman with a bad back and high blood pressure and I was starting to huff and puff. The water was below the sill level by this time, but still not running toward the street. I called a couple of neighbors who I remember the phone numbers of and fortunately they came to help me out. When we finally got the trough over the little hill and the water started running down the other side it was amazing! It was like a river, with a LOT of water. It kept on running and running. Just about this time, Bill came home. :-P He took off my boots and my feet HURT! He ran to Home Depot to buy a wet vac but it hasn't done _that_ much good.
I like to think that it would have been a lot worse if I didn't start work on it right away, but I am not sure. The carpet seems ruined, the water abatement people haven't been here yet and seem like assh*les, the insurance guy hasn't been here yet and officially, by the books, I probably don't qualify for insurance because it falls under the flood exclusion with is pretty broad. I have to try anything, though.
I think the only major thing damaged is the carpet and a lot of time lost to cleanup. Remember, this is a basement/playroom and has like a billion pieces all over the place. It also has the computer, two couches, a futon, a Little Tykes type slide and climbing toy, and a ~400 lb air hockey set. We are probably going to pull the carpet out ourselves tomorrow, should be a pain... Maybe we can actually throw some stuff out?????
