It came down in buckets. That is the old cliche about heavy rainfall, but this time it was not far from the truth. From after midnight Sunday morning we had over 8 inches of rain in about 24 hours. I have never seen rain like this, and I lived for years in the rainy Pacific Northwest.
Well, Sunday night the fire trucks came through the neighborhood with sirens and lights blaring. They were telling all residents via the loudspeakers to tune to the local emergency radio station. This was at 11:30pm Sunday night, that was the harbinger that something serious was afoot. More serious than the usual flooding of the flood plain.
I was awakened Monday morning at 5am by the emergency sirens in town. I dressed and walked down to find out how the neighborhood looked. After just over two blocks, I found the river. It was creeping toward the house slowly, as I retreated home the rain mixed with some sleet and snowflakes (what kind of crazy storm was this?).
Luckily, I had found the online river gauges and was monitoring them and alternately going outside to see the river coming closer. By just before noon, the water stopped advancing, it was but 4 houses away. Figuring that we narrowly escaped damage, I headed to the restroom. Imagine my surprise when I heard the unmistakable sound of cascading water coming up from the basement.
The river water was coming up the drains through the sink basin. Not gushing, but steady nonetheless. The Macgyver instinct took over and I set up a makeshift dam around the furnace, had to make sure that pilot light didn't get extinguished by water. Next we corralled all of our trash cans, recycling bins, and buckets from the house and went to work. Filling the large cans and then we had to go, one bucket at a time each, up the stairs and dump the water out back. This began at around noon...by 3pm the hopelessness was tangible. It seemed all we could do was keep the water level barely in the sink, but if we would pause or slow down, it would resume spilling into the basement.
The feeling of despair was palpable, until we got a break by 5pm. One of the two drains in the split sink stopped discharging water. With new found hope, and only about half of the amount of water coming in, a slight relief passed over. We were finally able to get the sink to a very low point and proceeded to jam up the drain with some foam/plastic and then placed heavy pain cans atop of it. It was not sealed completely, but it slowed the flow to a slight stream. We did the same jamming to the other sink drain, and began emptying out the large bins while we had the chance.
Finally, around 630pm, or about 6 and a half hours after we started, the flow of river water virtually stopped. I kept the drains plugged for the time being and continued checking the sinks into the night. Eventually, after 3am, the water remaining in the sinks drained out. We had done it, we saved the house from severe damage.
Tuesday was spent emptying all the other bins we used for water, and for the mopping up of remaining puddles in the cellar. The debris removal was next and we piled up our waterlogged belongings at the curb. Upon completion of this task yesterday, I stood at the end of the driveway and took a look around. The sight was depressing...people pumping out their homes and basements, piling belongings at the curb, many trucks from the power company swarming through the streets, police vehicles on patrol, fire trucks responding to emergencies, and just people in motion like robots.
Sadly, many of these people went through the same thing in 1999. Fortunately, this flood was not quite as bad, but that is like comparing the severity of gunshot wounds....they both hurt a lot and traumatize people, the difference in the degree of suffering is only slight.
The good news is that I have heard no word of fatalities or even serious injuries in town, belongings can be replaced...lives cannot.
God bless those who suffered, and I pray they get their lives back together soon. Let's all hope that this really IS a once-in-a-lifetime storm (like they said the flood of 1999 was).
Well, Sunday night the fire trucks came through the neighborhood with sirens and lights blaring. They were telling all residents via the loudspeakers to tune to the local emergency radio station. This was at 11:30pm Sunday night, that was the harbinger that something serious was afoot. More serious than the usual flooding of the flood plain.
I was awakened Monday morning at 5am by the emergency sirens in town. I dressed and walked down to find out how the neighborhood looked. After just over two blocks, I found the river. It was creeping toward the house slowly, as I retreated home the rain mixed with some sleet and snowflakes (what kind of crazy storm was this?).
Luckily, I had found the online river gauges and was monitoring them and alternately going outside to see the river coming closer. By just before noon, the water stopped advancing, it was but 4 houses away. Figuring that we narrowly escaped damage, I headed to the restroom. Imagine my surprise when I heard the unmistakable sound of cascading water coming up from the basement.
The river water was coming up the drains through the sink basin. Not gushing, but steady nonetheless. The Macgyver instinct took over and I set up a makeshift dam around the furnace, had to make sure that pilot light didn't get extinguished by water. Next we corralled all of our trash cans, recycling bins, and buckets from the house and went to work. Filling the large cans and then we had to go, one bucket at a time each, up the stairs and dump the water out back. This began at around noon...by 3pm the hopelessness was tangible. It seemed all we could do was keep the water level barely in the sink, but if we would pause or slow down, it would resume spilling into the basement.
The feeling of despair was palpable, until we got a break by 5pm. One of the two drains in the split sink stopped discharging water. With new found hope, and only about half of the amount of water coming in, a slight relief passed over. We were finally able to get the sink to a very low point and proceeded to jam up the drain with some foam/plastic and then placed heavy pain cans atop of it. It was not sealed completely, but it slowed the flow to a slight stream. We did the same jamming to the other sink drain, and began emptying out the large bins while we had the chance.
Finally, around 630pm, or about 6 and a half hours after we started, the flow of river water virtually stopped. I kept the drains plugged for the time being and continued checking the sinks into the night. Eventually, after 3am, the water remaining in the sinks drained out. We had done it, we saved the house from severe damage.
Tuesday was spent emptying all the other bins we used for water, and for the mopping up of remaining puddles in the cellar. The debris removal was next and we piled up our waterlogged belongings at the curb. Upon completion of this task yesterday, I stood at the end of the driveway and took a look around. The sight was depressing...people pumping out their homes and basements, piling belongings at the curb, many trucks from the power company swarming through the streets, police vehicles on patrol, fire trucks responding to emergencies, and just people in motion like robots.
Sadly, many of these people went through the same thing in 1999. Fortunately, this flood was not quite as bad, but that is like comparing the severity of gunshot wounds....they both hurt a lot and traumatize people, the difference in the degree of suffering is only slight.
The good news is that I have heard no word of fatalities or even serious injuries in town, belongings can be replaced...lives cannot.
God bless those who suffered, and I pray they get their lives back together soon. Let's all hope that this really IS a once-in-a-lifetime storm (like they said the flood of 1999 was).
[NOTE: The picture at top is of the advancing water at 8am]
