FYI: Where I'll be...
 

Sadly, I won't be here too much for the next few weeks or longer, unless I do so from work. My house has been flooded and we had to evacuate early this morning. I am now currently living with my wife and kids in a friend's RV. The last I saw the house, everything in the basement is ruined. I hope the living level remains ok, but only time will tell.

So, if anyone tries to PM me and I don't answer, that's why.

Time to go buy a boat...

Very bad to hear this Brian, but I'm glad you and your family are safe.

Sorry to hear about this Brian. My prayers go out to you and your family. That's a tough lot for sure.

Ahh dude that blows - hope there is power for the pump..

Sorry to hear. I pray that the water damage is not major.

Weather?

If only Traxxas had their Titan available.

Very sorry to hear Brian, glad everyone is safe.

I hate it when bad things happen to good people. Best wishes Brian. This too shall pass.

Sorry to hear man. Hang in there.

Good luck with the house Brian I hope everything turns out well.

Thanks for the sentiment guys! Really appreciate it.

Outlook is not so good. Water is not dropping very fast at all . Water currently still at 15 feet (flood level is 12 feet) and we are supposed to get another full day of rain on Friday. What is needed is a solid 3 or 4 days MINIMUM of no rain at all followed by very light to no rain for several weeks to get the water levels down, and that's not gonna happen.

After Friday, the extended outlook looks ok for several days, but I'm sure that will change for the worse ("always expect the worst and all surprises will be good ones"). But, even if it IS true, it will likely be too late for anything except seeing what can be salvaged.

I'm just really in a pissy mood, working on less than 2 hours of sleep, haven't eaten in two days (stress makes you lose your appetite), and really have nothing to look forward to. I guess the bright side is that at least me and my family are safe. And at least it's not as bad as the floods in China...

Anyway, I'll be leaving work soon, so unless I happen to get internet access in my friend's RV, I won't see you until tomorrow. Good night all.

Ouch, this bites!
I do hope this goes away very quickly, I guess it'd be great to invest in a very expensive pump, that can pump out multiple, multiple gallons at once!

Sorry to hear this Brian. Good luck to you and your family that everything turns out ok

That's gotta suck, big time. Like you said at least the family is safe. Hopefully the family unit won't suffer from the stress. 'Character building' I know that term gets used loosely nowa days but maybe you'll get to appreciate your family members in a new way after this. Good luck anyway!

Brian, so sorry to hear about this... I'll say a prayer for you and your family, I'm glad everyone is safe.

Bummer man, time to jack the house up on stilts me thinks, or build a 4foot tall wall around the house with footings going down to the existing foundations..

Ouch!!!! That sucks big time but at least your family is safe and you have friends that are willing to help you out. Good luck man and I hope things start to get a bit better soon.

Update:

River water levels went from over 16 feet to just under 8 feet in a matter of around 24 hours. Basement is a complete mess, but there's only about 1" of water left. Unfortunately, the forecast is predicting another full 24 hours of thunderstorms, so the flooding will probably be even worse than before. I picked up a compression plug for the storm drain, but I'm not sure how well that will work. So, here's to hoping...

The city is talking about buyouts for some of the properties in my area. If that happens, I will be MORE than willing to jump at the chance despite all the work that's been done to the house since the ex left. Sometimes, you just gotta cut your losses...

Sux man.. :( didn't your house flood last yr?

Jeez Brian, that freakin sucks!

I hope you get a good outcome & the kids aren't too disrupted or upset by the drama & change

Yeah, the basement gets a little water every year around this time (usually more so in June), but nothing even remotely close to this. Seems to steadily be getting worse year by year, but no one expected this level.

Turns out the city buyout is only for a select few homes. After this is all done, I'd sell the place, but who the hell is gonna buy a flood-prone house in this market? Even when I do get everything replaced and cleaned up, it's only a matter of time before it happens again and back to square one. Just want to walk away from this place.

Ugg. I wanna go punch something...

How does that work out? I would guess there will be a lot of people in your situation who are saying "Why are these particular houses getting bought out, and not ours?" Maybe you can explain the details I'm missing, but it seems like a select few are getting a bailout, and the rest are getting screwed. I suppose that's par for the course in our governing system...

Wow, sorry to hear it all =( We recently had what they are now calling a 500yr flood in the middle TN area, 22" of rain in less than two days. FEMA was able to help allot of the flood victims. Maybe there is something they can do financially for you? Anyway good luck!

I'm not really sure how that works. The gov't (fed, state, and local) probably figures it would be cheaper (and safer) in the long run to buy out the property than to continue paying out benefits via FEMA every year. And anyway, you'd be surprised how many people choose to stay and rebuild knowing there is more than a good chance it will happen again next year. I suspect fraud; they claim whatever, get the check, then go out and get the cheapest stuff at garage sales or whatever, and pocket the rest. Personally, pocketing a few bucks is not worth dying for if the water rises while you are sleeping. I think that if people refuse the buyout, they should be exempt from future benefits of any kind.

Yeah, that's what they are calling it here too; "100 year" or "500 year" floods. I think it's supposed to mean it happens once every 100/500 years, but I'm beginning to think it means the floods lasts 100/500 years! And regarding FEMA, yeah, they can probably help out, but the same crap is going to keep happening.

Best of luck Brian. I feel for you. My folks live in a similar situation with water issues. they installed a french drain system 10 yrs. ago and it has saved their bacon many times

Unfortunately, that wouldn't have helped. Not when the water level outside is high enough where it gushes from a 3" floor drain as well as seeping in through the floor/walls. My sump pumps water out of a 1.5" hose non-stop at a decent clip and it couldn't keep up.

I'd have to install something like a French drain system, and have multiple sumps, some of which run on 12v battery for when the electric company shuts off power. Even then, when the water gets to the windows, it will flow in no matter how many pumps you have. To really do it right, I should pick the house up and put it on a ship's hull.

Lifting the house could be a viable option if you stay where you are. I have seen houses lifted to escape flood areas

lol, yeah, that's an option I suppose. But if I could afford to do that, I wouldn't be in the area I'm in...

Sorry to hear.
 

Sorry to hear about your situation BG. Your view seems to be quite common in todays news. There is flooding going on in many countries around the globe today and not much is being stated about why just yet, but it seems that we are experiencing freakish weather that may or may not be a cycle that we should have expected on many levels.

As for your house, sorry to hear of your experience. One has to consider all of the variables and decide whether it is time to bail or stick it out. My opinion is living in any kind of a flood zone is too great of a risk. Especially when family is involved. Life is too short to put yourself in that situation. Maybe try to communicate with the bank and get out while you still can. River front or river view property has its issues, and I would not buy anything less than 30 feet above sea level with the predictions of high water levels. With the threat of global warming looming I fear that things are only going to get worse in the comming years. I would try my best to live in a higer elavation for sure. Good luck Brian.

I noticed this article just now

http://www.smh.com.au/environment/cl...812-120th.html

Update: Was able to move back into the house last night. Basement is a mess understandably, and spent all days yesterday hauling everything upstairs and outside to throw away. Man, am I tired and sore! Waterlogged items are NOT light! City inspectors came over this morning and told me pretty much what I already knew: hot water tank, furnace, washer/dryer need to be replaced. Today's task is to hose down and squeegee the basement (how ironic that I will be adding MORE water), and then sparying it down with bleach to kill germs/mold. Ug.

Oh, and a helpful tip: Plastic storage bins do float, but not so well if cracked. Also, if unbalanced, they tip over, rendering their water-proof properties invalid.

Jerry: From what I've researched, this repeating weather pattern has been greatly influenced by a static jet stream. Usually, it fluctuates over time, but lately has been static for over a week. This causes weather patterns to rotate over an area bringing the same weather over and over and over again. Scientists don't know why or how it shifts, it just does - and is hard to predict. It does go static every so often, it just was static for a lot longer than usual this time. Just the last day or two it has shifted like it is supposed to, so patterns should start varying once again. Just here alone, it has gone from 90*F+ and ~90% humidity and rain, to much dryer and cooler sunny days.

BrianG YGPM

Good to hear
 

Good to hear BG. You will overcome and be back to normal soon. My opinion still stands about living too close to water ways and living above sea level. If I were you I would consider selling and getting out of that situation before the next wave of trouble hits that area. Just like New Orleans it is a cycle that will inevitably come again over and over and over. Why put yourself in that volnerable position? There are plenty of places in the USA that do not have these kinds of issues(Earthquakes, Floods, Huricanes, Tornados). Higher ground is the key.

mistercrash: Yes, I got your PM, and a BIG thank you!!

Jerry: Believe me, I well know I should get out. When I moved here in '01, it wasn't on the flood plain, but since then, it became part of the flood plain. I knew there was a creak nearby, but figured that being about 1/4-1/2 mile away from a creek would be OK. Color me wrong. :oops: I do want to sell now, but who is going to buy a house that is on the flood plain, for what I owe, in this market? If you see any suckers be sure to send them my way!

My pleasure and I hope it works. :wink:

I haven't been around for a while... but I saw this and thought we can't leave a good man hanging...

Brian,
In for 25 cookies. Not much, but I hope it helps.

Thanks! It all helps no matter how small!

I have an appointment tomorrow for an estimate on replacing the furnace and hot water tank. I want to try to have them raised around 3-4 feet off the floor if at all possible. That won't help if water starts coming in the basement windows, but it does give me a little extra wiggle-room. That coupled with plugging the storm drain (using an expandable plug) when I suspect issues should help a lot against future damages to those items.

Good luck Brian! My Mom and step dad have had continuous flooding in their basement, mostly through the sewer line. They wound up putting a one way valve in, similar to a check valve, but it had a special name. When there are water issues now there basement is dry but if that valve shuts they can only get about two flushes before the drains stop working. I would rather have to rent a portapotty and keep the basement dry myself so I think thats a small trade off. They had their washer, dryer, furnace, hot water heater, and freezer replaced twice because of flooding. Each time they raised things up higher. Their basement is only about 6'4" and they have their furnace and hot water heater almost 3 feet off the floor so if you have a deeper basement 4' shouldn't be a big deal. There are shorter furnaces that you can get, they're just fatter, I'm sure that you can get similar hot water tanks.

Gave a few cookies to your calculator, I've used it enough, hope it helps

Any chance
 

Hey BG any chance you can re-locate your furnace and hot water tank some place other then your basement? I moved our natural gas furnace to a closet on the first floor, and I converted the hot water heater to an electric one and it is now in the garage 24" off the floor. Just a thought. Plus I did it all myself. If no garage you can even build a small out building on your house for placement pretty cheaply. It may cost a bit more to relocate things, but compared to having to replace it every two years or so it usually saves money. I was even able to install a digital timer on our hot water heater (for $75 at the Home Depot) so the heater only draws electricity a few hours a day. 2 hours in early morniing and 2 hours in the evening. That way you can limit how much damage is done if water gets into your basement again. Maybe even try talking with your insurance company for assistance, which will save them money down the road. Sometimes they are willing to help $$$$ when it can benefit them on future claims. Good luck with that.