Julia's New journal: 2011-06-26

Thursday, June 30, 2011

When it rains it pours

   I think you all get the picture that we have been having lots of water here in Iowa. On top of the dams releasing all that water and flooding the low lands we have been having some major storms.    And even on top of a hill we didn't survive all that water.

     Sunday we had a major rain storm.   3 and a half inches of rain in 10 minutes. It was raining so hard you couldn't see outside.   We lost our electricity for 3 hours.   It was really bad.   During this time we heard a thump but thought it was probably another tree branch since we had wind gusts of up to 70 MPH.   Major storm.   When we woke up Monday Rick was really really sick with the flu. I went outside to assess the damage and sure enough we lost some more branches.   I assumed that was the noise we had heard.   Later that day I went to the basement freezer to get some ice for Rick and a nightmare awaited me.

      The egress window the city insisted I put in the basement had blown out in the storm. The thing filled up with water and blew out.   Everything that was stored on the floor was ruined and the water level looked to have been about 8 inches.    I didn't look into the the other part of the basement and didn't tell Rick until the next day since he was so sick I didn't want him to mess with it.    Tuesday he went down to check it out and he did check the entire basement.   In the front of the house he found a large area of the basement wall had blown in and mud was covering everything.   We think a gofer had dug down around the foundation under my flower bed and with the rain it filled up and collapsed the wall. So in the front of my house I now have a very large, very deep hole.

Kind of looks like brownie mix doesn't it,

You can see the water level on the wall in the last shot and all the mud in the 2 above. Oh, and the wet smell, my asthma was going crazy. Plus we are going to have to worry about mold.

Thank goodness I keep most things I store down there in plastic tubs. I do it because of spiders and it is a damp ole basement and that saved all my quilts and Christmas decorations. About 500 dollars worth of books, I read a lot, were ruined, all of Ricks magazines, some things my son's stored down there and some of Ricks projects.

So here I sit with my broken arm and my 2 pound lifting limit, a husband who is running a 101 fever and hasn't left his bed for more then a hour in 2 days and this huge mess. I called my oldest son, the newlywed and started to cry.

I always cry at the beginning of an emergency and then get down to business. Once I get that out of the way I am a take charge type of person. Both my son's left work early and my new lovely DIL came over and we started moving things out and throwing things away.

Since we are having major floods in 3 states I spent hours on the phone trying to find a dumpster, a storage pod, a contractor and getting in touch with my insurance man. Everyone is booked for weeks. I did finally get the dumpster, the storage pod and a contractor who can start in a couple of weeks lined up to repair the damage. He said we have to clear up the entire basement, duh, before he starts. The insurance people said I am not covered for floods. Is rain considered a flood? I live on one of the highest hill in my town, I am miles away from the river. Now why would I have flood insurance. I pay all this insurance and they never want to cover anything.

Yesterday Rick was finally feeling better and we were both up in the wee hours cleaning and moving things. Rick has a huge amount of tools and wood, screws, nails, wiring, saws, etc.... down there. Neat and organized he is not. Then the insurance company tells us were weren't suppose to toss anything until they had looked at all the damage! What, we were suppose to leave all that wet mess down there to mold and smell to high heaven when they said it would be a few days before they could come assess it? And it isn't like they are going to cover anything anyway. I am definitely getting a different insurance company when I am done with this mess.

So in the next few weeks I will be getting new gutters put on, the basement fixed and new cement driveway and maybe patio. All my stash I have been saving for years for my retirement is going to have to be used. But thank goodness I live simply and have a stash I can count on. As long as this is the last disaster for awhile. I think we really need a break here. And I really need to get back to work and start earning some money again. I hope that stupid gofer is buried under that huge pile of mud.