Monday, June 16, 2014

DELUGE!

All I asked for was 1/2" of rain to re-fill the 3rd water barrel.  And that much rain would also take care of the recent shrub and annual flower installations.  I was tired and didn't want to haul water around this afternoon.

We got 1/4" of rain a little after 3:00 pm.  Great.  Now if only one of those other errant dots on the radar would roll our way, we could top off the tank, so to speak.

It started up again at 4:00 pm.  The next hour and fifteen minutes were total chaos!!

Wind, rain, hail, lightning, rolling constant thunder.  And it surely did rain.  Torrential doesn't do it justice.

When it started to taper off around 5:15.... the 'hood was in trouble.

We gotten 4.1" of water.

The water rushed down the road so fast it took garbage bins with it.

It took sod with it.

It took part of the roadbed with it.

And when it got to the bottom of the hill, it filled up the creak, choked the culvert under the golf course, surged into the house at the bottom of the hill and flooded acres of property.  

The rain came down so hard it just jumped right over the gutter on the garage, cascading down the garage door and ran into the garage.

We had a rain like this back in 2003 (again in 2006 & 2011) where we got just as much water just as fast.  My basement floor actually geysered  water due to the hydrostatic water pressure under the foundation and the walls became fountains with jets arcing out over 6" (and my house is on TOP of the hill!).  So, since I was on a waiting list, it wasn't until 2004 until an interior drainage system and a super sized sump pump was installed (Basement Systems).

I'm happy to report only 2 little incidents in the basement today:  a trickle of water from one of the interior wall drains (that had been repaired for leakage in 2011 - obviously not completely fixed**), and water running from an electrical outlet on an exterior (below soil line) wall (put the blame here on the electrician who put anchor bolts THROUGH the plastic wall water barrier.  Grrrrr.

Anyway, I quickly unplugged the freezer from that outlet and snaked an extension cord to another outlet.

The crawlspace under the bedrooms, where no drainage was installed, had water gushing from the foundation tiles, creating creeks across the uneven concrete floor.  That section of the house needs some work....

Otherwise, the sound and fury has moved on, the sun is shining, the sky is blue, the birds and singing....

I need a drink. I'm whipped.
Really.

** service call scheduled

Wednesday a.m. update.    ======

2.5 hours of severe storms started on 3:00 a.m. with constant lightning and thunder enough to shake a brick house.  Heavy sporadic downpours again, flooding the garage.  Thankfully only .8 inches of rain in the gauge.  But the radar still looks menacing.

Wednesday p.m. update ======

And the storms just keep on coming.... :-(

6 comments:

  1. It's either all or none anymore. We've only had a quarter inch of rain in the past 30 days. I just said to hubby the other day, IF we EVER get rain again, watch it come down in sheets. So sorry you got yours like that. But, I'll bet those rain barrels are FULL FULL FULL! (mine currently have about an inch of pine tree pollen in them--that's it.)

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    1. Sheets, pillow cases, duvets, all the bed linen fell from the sky yesterday. I see this morning that northern MI has quite a bit of radar over it this morning and hope you get some good rain. I hear you on the pollen. It's thick everywhere this year.

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    2. We got an inch---happy happy!! And yes, it did come down full blast. Now I have to scrape my mulch off the driveway and put it back in the border. I'm wondering if any rain had a chance to soak in. But my rain tubs are full again --hooray. Life is good!
      : )

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    3. I hope you get a couple follow-up soakers to good-up the ground. Here, I'm surprised at how much standing water is gone. Sure the creeks are full, but even that mess down the hill was gone through the culvert this morning.

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  2. This happened to you YESTERDAY!?!? Whoa! I guess we got lucky! We got a light sprinkle before I left Rootstown for work, and a heavier but brief one shortly after I got to work in Kent. Then nothing the rest of the day and it got hoooot and muggy! Then yesterday afternoon we got whalloped with heavy rain, thunder and lightning, but in total we only got .85" of rain - I was out in the sun grilling dinner around 6:30pm!

    While I'm sad for you getting hit with all that, pleeeeease keep it over your way! We're not all that far apart, but many of the storms this year have been real spotty with where they do (and don't!) hit!

    And have you seen the forecast? Good chance of rain starting tomorrow and running through next Tuesday! Pass!

    Keep on floating! ;-)

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    1. A little distance can make such a difference. Just 5 miles north of me, my mother only got 2.5". The radar showed Canton and south were just drowned during that storm.

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