Here we go again.... Flooding!

[jimnyc]

As of 5am this morning it had rained for like 2 days straight but we were holding up. Then a short while after that the flood gates opened once again. We have about 3-4ft in our garage and about the same in the basement. There goes the hot water heater and air conditioning. I'm tired of replacing them damn things! I wish I had a video of the basement area but without lighting it's just not coming out, but the water is just rushing into our garage area and then overflowing into our basement. We have like 5 industrial sized sump pumps now and they can't keep up. It's like every house within a one block radius is designed to drop their water into our house! I just got done cleaning this effin mess from last week and here it is again - but only worse today as this is a LOT more water.

Here is a video showing my driveway and entrance into our garage. Thank God my truck was outside overnight. This shit video doesn't show the entire amount of damage, I'm not exactly Spielberg!!

<iframe width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/crkkZAB8hPY?hl=en&fs=1" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

A picture towards my workbench piled with some boxes to save a few things at least:

http://i51.tinypic.com/t8rzi9.jpg

Where garage door and basement meet. If it were video you would see the water rushing in. You should be able to see some depth here though based on doorknob...

http://i55.tinypic.com/vwye54.jpg

The bottom of the stairs walking into my basement. I hate my house.

http://i56.tinypic.com/huka5v.jpg

[jimnyc]

And the view out my computer room window. It's like 10 inches deep in some areas, about 2 feet in others, and then 2-4 feet in the effin house. And now I have to walk my dogs as the little bastards won't go play in the huge puddle!

http://i53.tinypic.com/2nuoahv.jpg

[CSM]

Man, that really just blows.

[Kathianne]

What a mess! Next house, go to county engineering and get the topography survey maps, buy highest house on block.

[jimnyc]

Here's the latest from further up my driveway into the garage area. We have a company coming out with some huge pumps to help us. The rain stopped but the water keeps rising. I'm really glad I didn't park in the garage last night! We bought our house in '99 for $300k, it was valued as high as $750 about 5 years ago, but after the past few storms it's probably dropped to about $50! Gonna get her painted soon and drop this "money pit" on to someone else. Don't forget the donation button at the top of the board. Wifey definitely isn't giving me any allowance for awhile now! LOL :coffee:

http://i52.tinypic.com/14k8cr8.jpg

[jimnyc]

2 monster pumps running and the water is going down finally. In these pics you can see how high the water was and how much has been pumped out already. We did a lot of work to the house a few years back having a well system installed with industrial pumps and it's own monitoring system (hence the red light in the garage which is letting us know it can't keep up with the amount of water). Apparently even after that extensive work we can't feel safe about storms. But still we will have to replace the utilities again (not hot water or gas for awhile either) and the water is well above the circuit board for the air unit. And my poor bicycle drowned!

http://i53.tinypic.com/34j9heu.jpg

http://i51.tinypic.com/2i6jn04.jpg

[Gaffer]

When you replace the water heater and air unit you might look at making some sort of stands for them above the high water mark as there is bound to be future flooding. Will your insurance cover any of it? They usually don't cover flooding, that's always separate.

[Abbey Marie]

@&^%$!@#*&^! I feel for you, Jim. This rain is flooding my MIL's basement over and over. We had a flooded porch twice before the hurricane. Crossing our fingers this week.

I'm thinking we need to take Ark Building 101.

[KarlMarx]

I'm sorry to hear about your problems, Jim. I was able to dodge the bullet. My sump is going full guns and I hope my power doesn't go out.

The situation in town and in nearby Binghamton is very serious. It's possible that the down town may flood because the flood walls may not be able to hold it all back....

http://www.pressconnects.com/article/20110908/NEWS01/110908036/1112/

[jimnyc]

Ahhhh Crap.

I thought we might have got lucky and after things dried up the hot water heater could somehow miraculously work. But I'm wrong, and they already confirmed the unit we need won't be here until next Thursday. A week without hot water blows. I know people have it worse, but nothing sucks more than a cold shower!

And we don't have an appt. till next week to have the air conditioning system / Heating unit fixed. The entire circuit board area that controls it was under water, so I know that needs replacing.

And to top it all off, my dogs think since there is so much water in the backyard that it's ok to do their "business" on the back porch instead, which is an indoor porch with a door and windows. Little bastards!

[Kathianne]

Ahhhh Crap.

I thought we might have got lucky and after things dried up the hot water heater could somehow miraculously work. But I'm wrong, and they already confirmed the unit we need won't be here until next Thursday. A week without hot water blows. I know people have it worse, but nothing sucks more than a cold shower!

And we don't have an appt. till next week to have the air conditioning system / Heating unit fixed. The entire circuit board area that controls it was under water, so I know that needs replacing.

And to top it all off, my dogs think since there is so much water in the backyard that it's ok to do their "business" on the back porch instead, which is an indoor porch with a door and windows. Little bastards!

Tankless water heater might be a good investment for resale. In an area prone to flooding, you can put the unit high on the wall. No tank, no floodwater.

[Gaffer]

At least you don't have a 120 lb great peranese who thinks it's too wet out there the porch will do just fine.

[jimnyc]

Tankless water heater might be a good investment for resale. In an area prone to flooding, you can put the unit high on the wall. No tank, no floodwater.

The new water heater is harder to get because it's half size, but the same amount of gallons (50?). But this one is going to be lifted about and installed on cinder blocks this time. We're going to have a contractor build the lift starting tomorrow and the plumbers will finish the work next Thurs-Fri. So hopefully this should be a better long term fix for the HWH - which this is like the 5th or 6th since 1999!!

[jimnyc]

At least you don't have a 120 lb great peranese who thinks it's too wet out there the porch will do just fine.

That's what I told my wife. I said we were lucky because we only had a 25lb Pug and a 6-7lb Chihuahua. She still said if they did it again she will stab them!

[Gaffer]

That's what I told my wife. I said we were lucky because we only had a 25lb Pug and a 6-7lb Chihuahua. She still said if they did it again she will stab them!

Somehow I can't help thinking that "them" included the guy she was talking too. Just guessing. :poke:

[ConHog]

Jimmy, sorry to hear about your troubles my friend.

[gabosaurus]

Wow, that is some serious crap going on. Sorry to hear you are having so much troubles.
I thought my friend in Austin was in bad shape because she could see the smoke and some of the fires from her home in West Lake Hills.

[Kathianne]

Wow, that is some serious crap going on. Sorry to hear you are having so much troubles.
I thought my friend in Austin was in bad shape because she could see the smoke and some of the fires from her home in West Lake Hills.
I can't speak for Jim, but can say I'd rather deal with flood than fire. I can say the same regarding insurance risks.