Flood of 2011

Yes, we've had a lot of rain and the river a mile from my house and down the hill is nearing it's point of over-flow and I've had people ask me if we are in danger of getting flooded and I say "No, not even possible" Well the river didn't hit us but a broken irrigation pipe did. It broke underground and finally found an escape route through the dirt and spewed up one night after the sprinklers went off. It's a pressurized line so it had some force. It filled the big window well and the pressure broke the window and destroyed the blinds in the process. It was 4:30 AM, thank goodness we were home. It was very loud and there was running water so we ran downstairs...barefooted. When I heard arching from the treadmill I ordered all barefoot people out of the water and ran upstairs to hit the breaker switches and unplugged everything before turning the lights back on. On our second trip down nearly every step under our now shod feet was breaking glass that had floated all through the craft room and hall and was making it's way into the bedrooms and even into the family room. This water came from the window well so of course it had dirt, leaves, worms, bugs and even a salamander.

Did I mention that the force destroyed the blinds?

I've never been known for my immaculate house keeping and it came back to bite me in the craft room. I had my top drawer full of stamp pads open 2 inches. It instantly filled with water and filled all three drawers below it. The cart with my paper caught the water coming down and ruined all of that. The family and personal portraits, however, were in hanging file folders safely under the counter.

The counter had my paper cutter, quilt fabric/projects (only a few) and pictures, framed and otherwise. Those items did not fare well and were strewn throughout the room.


This is down the hall and into the family room. Glass even got this far.






Dirty water everywhere.

(I lost a couple of pictures here, sorry)

ServiceMaster to the rescue and after much ulcer causing questions, State Farm came to the rescue and is covering the repairs.

All carpet had to come out and the cabinets. Sheetrock had to be removed 16 inches up and all insulation below that point. D was ready to start on his back yard work shop but now he's sheet rocking and we spend a lot of time looking at paint and carpet samples. Not how we wanted to spend our summer but so grateful that our disaster was nothing more than an inconvenience and otherwise we have all been well.