The terrace as wetland this morning. Beauty in unwanted places? Poor drainage happens.
Weather consequences were so bad yesterday that Tuck requested we not blog about it for awhile. He spent hours vacuuming out inches of water from the basement with the shop vac, not knowing the source. At one point the Chelsea Fire Department came in at Tuck's request and determined it had nothing to do with the sewage system and must be leakage from the saturated soil surrounding the foundation.
Water patterns on the terrace this morning, where the drainage is non existent after these 40 days and 40 nights of rain.
The weather picture here of late has been of biblical proportions.
The basement floor, dry at 5 a.m. was in full flood mode by 7 a.m.
When Tuck arose this morning, ready to head out to Home Depot for sump-pump relief, we told him the basement had been dry a couple of hours earlier when we arose to feed the puddies. 'Wish we had taken a photo, as now, when we went down, the flood had moved back in. Who will ever believe us? At any rate, as he heads out, we head for the kitchen to prepare a hearty breakfast of bacon and eggs. The cats are antsy with cabin fever.
We must admit we awoke this morning with a primal fear. You always think it's going to be a terrorist attack or a hurricane or a tsunami or a tornado. What if it snuck in the back door? Lots of perennial worries when it comes to torrential rain, including the undermining of the root system of our grand old Silver Maple, which could fall with full force onto the house, not to mention the ever looming possible breach of the awesome retaining wall behind the house.
Update: Tuck's home with no sump pump in hand. About a zillion fellow citizens ahead of him in line at the Home Depot.
Water, water everywhere or so one would think. Lots of erosion on the sides of roads and in driveways and lawns about town.
Posted by: goomp | May 14, 2006 at 10:36 AM
Having been through numerous basement floods at our old place in the Chicago area - I certainly do believe that you can flood a great deal in 2 hours. Depending on the way the water enters, it only takes 30 minutes tops for a mere 4-5 inches of water to accumulate. (I've watched it happen while dragging stuff up the basement stairs so it wouldn't be ruined).
I'm so sorry you're having to deal with all of that. What a complete mess. If there's anything I can do - let me know.
Oh yeah, once the rain has stopped and you've gotten the water out. You may want to consider having a service like Service Master come out and treat the floor and walls - wash them down properly in other words - so you don't get any nasty mold growing down there. But it has to be done very soon after getting the water out. Our problem being that it's still raining... ARG!
Posted by: Teresa | May 14, 2006 at 12:37 PM
sorry for your difficulty...
hold on...
Mother Nature...
Posted by: HNAV | May 16, 2006 at 02:30 AM
beautiful photos on the other hand...
Posted by: HNAV | May 16, 2006 at 02:31 AM