Rain and more Rain

Water has come into the basement family room AGAIN, and yet again. It wasn't much, but the carpet had to be pulled back, the water mopped up and fans run for two days to dry things out. The day I went down to put the carpet back in place, a little more water had found its way in and made the fan necessary for another day.

It's raining again now. I don't have the heart to go check out the basement. I would just let the water ruin our stuff, except I got a letter from our insurance company reminding us that we're not covered for flooding!! So I keep moving our stuff/junk, threaten to get rid of it (except where would I find the energy to do that?!) and then put it all back where it came from. Vicious circle!

The neighbor's back yard has flooded again. This time the water is deep! A duck couple has taken up residence there.

When we look at the forecast, it mentions rain that may be "torrential" at times. It's easy to tell those times, as the sound of the rain is overwhelming. For some reason this gives me a calm feeling and I really enjoy listening to it. Usually this is accompanied by some LOUD thunder and intense lightening. We unplug our appliances and computers several times each day.

Madison had the worst winter in 20 years our first winter here. Now we're having the most volatile Spring that anyone can remember. Is it just bad luck? Poor timing? Global warming?

The Flood in the Basement

Can't remember if I posted that the basement got wet a couple of weeks ago. We had one day-ONE DAY!- of "nice" weather (above freezing) and when the melting began, much of it came down the wall into our family room and storage room. We called the landlords who promptly came over with wet-vac's to get the water up. Then we set up fans and heaters and within 2-3 days, the damp was gone and we moved our stuff back into place.

At that time, I worried what we'd do when Spring finally arrives (yes, I'm optimistic about the event, even though there is nothing on the horizon to give me that hope!). We've had 100 inches of snow this winter. That is a LOT of melting that will have to happen. But I figured it was not going to happen anytime soon, so I quit worrying.

Yesterday we got that brief glimpse of nice weather to come. It got up to 46 degrees!! Of course, the melting started immediately, but nothing seemed to be coming in the basement. Then, late in the day it began raining. When we went to check the basement before bedtime, it was flooded. About twice as much liquid as the first time.

We moved furniture and storage bins. We called the landlords, who brought the vacuums again. We sopped up water for about an hour, then set up a towel perimeter to direct the incoming water (yes, it was still coming in!) to the drain in the laundry room floor. This required about 20 towels, rolled into cylinders and laid end to end to form a path of least resistance to the drain which was about 30 feet away. Then I turned the fan on high and went to bed.

During the night the rain turned to snow and the liquid will freeze and quit coming in. The forecast for the next 5 days is for below freezing temperatures. So, no more flood waters coming.

However, the carpet is still VERY wet. The fans are only beginning to do their work. We still have to dry out the cement, the pad (which will be thrown out and replaced once the leak is fixed) and the storage room. Just now the carpet is suspended in the air on the backs of folding chairs. It created a little tunnel for the fan to blow through.

The landlord will probably have to take down the drywall to the outside wall to see why it is leaking.

So, we'll be living with chaos and damp for some weeks to come. Oh the Joy!