It rained. No, it downpoured. No, the skies opened up and spewed its anger all over my area of town again. Need I say more?
Just a little background....in 2004 I lived in a small, quaint little house that Big Princess and I outgrew. So, I put it on the market and it sold within hours. THAT'S how cute it was. The house had its cuteness, but also its evil side with water in the basement being one of those. On Memorial Day weekend, after having sold the house and finding a new one I was going to purchase, we got what the weather men dubbed "100 year rain" which I video taped as the water rushed down the street and was high enough to touch the realty sign. Then I went downstairs where there was 9 inches of standing water, even though I had just spent $7000 out of my pocket to put in drain tile and sump pit and re-do concrete work, etc. With the help of friends, including my realtor and mortgage guy, we got it out within 24 hours, the sheet rock was able to be saved, but not the carpet and a few other things that were floating and in boxes. Note: if you store in cardboard, BUY BINS! The buyer walked through the house the day of the flooding with her boss, who happened to be the man in charge of some city department that actually dealt with drains and streets, and she stayed in the deal after he told her I had done everything I could and it was fluke deal.
Three weeks later that "100 year rain" came back. With a vengeance. Beyond belief. I watched and sobbed as the water was high enough to come in my back door and run down my steps, pour into my windows and the sump pump just couldn't keep up. This time 14 standing inches by the time it was done, walls ruined, washer ruined, and buyer backed out. I closed on my new house in two weeks. However, within two weeks, I had that place cleaned up and the walls repaired and repainted and so on. I do believe that is when my ulcers began now that I think about it. Anyway, it went back on the market. For another four months. Eventually, it sold and I moved into a house that was "water safe."
However, for the first year in my new house, every single time it rained, no matter how much or how hard, I would get anxiety attacks. My heart would race, I would sweat and the feeling of sobbing would come over me. I would always wake up and walk all around the house, checking every corner, nook and cranny (weird word that is) for any wetness and it literally took a year before I would sleep through the rain again in comfort knowing I was safe.
Fast forward to the summer of 2010. Must have been "100 years ago" that I had those floods because I swear we are having those rains again. And yes, the water has returned. There is no sump pit in this house (that's how safe it was) and the first time it came in, the carpet and pad had to go. The second time I caught it in time to stop it from going more than a foot away from the wall. And yes, folks, the anxiety attacks are back. At 4:20 this morning, I heard a thunderclap and the racing of the heart began. The Little Princess was restless due to a stuffy nose, so she was awake off and on, so I couldn't even sneak away to try to subside the fears suddenly overtaking me. At 5 AM, I finally got away from the octopus child and went into the basement to see my fears weren't just fears, but had become reality. The water was coming in again! The towels came out and my neighbor's large shop vac was started and for 50 minutes I vacuumed and sucked up that water, trying not to cry, wondering what is going to fix this mess. The good news is I do feel I located the problem as I looked at the window to see how the coverings were helping and saw it had filled! Appears the water is coming in there and running down the wall. Sigh. My only consolation, now that I've had the cardio workout for my heart with the anxiety attack, is that my neighbors get four inches in their basement and my other one got sewage so I will take my "Shop Vac Conquered Trickle" and be okay with it.
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