Sunday, April 21, 2013

last Thursday Mother Nature called

water covering a highway and new water park I've been to with grandkids


I was sleeping. My wife woke me up and told me the downpour was really bad and kindly suggested (her version, my version was more of an order) that I adjust the drain hose on the downspout.

Bear with me while I take a brief tangent to explain some background. Our house is not very large nor expensive (I’m sure those are related) so my wife swaps the seasonal coats around in the limited 1st floor closet space. Second notable item, we are experiencing a delayed winter. Before I could dash outside I had to wake up and get my rain jacket from its basement storage area (also I’m not a morning person).

As I lumbered down to the basement I saw the message Mother Nature left (so nice to leave messages). Mother Nature called to tell me our sump pump was dead. She displayed the message all across the basement floor.
 


extracted dead pump - could be from a sunken treasure find


When water starts flowing across a basement floor you notice all types of cardboard boxes that you didn’t realize were there. The morning was spent moving, clearing, dumping, wet vacuuming, and squeegee pushing. By mid afternoon I had extracted the dead pump.

Our problems were minor compared to others in our village and surrounding area. If you lived near a small stream, you discovered the now river strength water was asking to take you house along with it. A section of major highway through our village was completely under water (see pic below). A parking lot at a nearby grocery store had become a good size lake with cars forming islands.

According to regional weather forecasters more rain has fallen in this month of April (still more that a week left) than during ALL of last summer. Our village of Lisle made the top of one list of rainfall measurements on the local news. It was over 6 inches. Lisle was also mentioned by Brian Williams on the NBC national news.




Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy


Photos from Chicago Weather Center Blog and Huffington Post. You can find more photos by following the links back to those sites.





retirement home rescue




Every Sunday since my blog started getting visited by Unknown Mami there has been a photo sharing/linking post at her blog. Check it out.


Unknown Mami
 

28 comments:

Kathy said...

Yikes that stinks! Our sump pump has been working over time and not sounding too happy I hope it last awhile longer! I hope you dry out soon!

Cheryl P. said...

I was listening intently about Lisle's flooding, That is awful to have that much water running through your town. I sympathize with the sump pump fail. I had that happen a couple of years ago. My basement is finished and it proved to be an expensive fix.



Hope all goes back to normal ASAP.

Cyndy said...

what a mess! hope the rain slows or stops SOON!

Joanna Jenkins said...

I grew up in a house with a sump pump. Dang. I am so sorry it bit the dust. And the flooding. Ugh.
Hang in there, jj

Rebecca said...

We have no sump pump and a leaky basement. We had all kinds of streams seeping through the wall/floor along a couple of the walls in our basement. A rug is toast. It's in the garbage. That was our only casualty. Thank goodness our basement isn't finished. Just concrete next to concrete.

lisleman said...

Ours is basically not finished either. We have some drywall up around the steps and made a room down there. The carpet had been ripped up from a sewer problem a few years back. Biggest problem is getting it dried out good. Finished basements are risky. thanks

lisleman said...

thanks, The carpet had been ripped up from a sewer problem a few years back. Biggest problem is getting it dried out good. If I had been super pro-active and a bit of fortune teller, I would have replace the old thing before the big rain forecast. We are doing fine thanks.

lisleman said...

It did stop on Friday. Next rain is expect Tuesday. The problem with living by rivers is the delay before the surge of water gets to your part. Fortunately we don't live by the river. 100's of families just in our village were affected. thanks

lisleman said...

Thanks, it's getting close to normal (whatever normal is?). Finished basements are risky. Did your home insurance cover it. I heard some policies do not cover anything below ground level. We didn't have any major damage. Just lots of cleaning and trying to dry out.

lisleman said...

Depending how old it is and if you have a finished basement (ours is not really finished but there is some drywall up) you might by pro-active and replace it now. One lesson we learned the hard way years ago was more shelves and plastic tubs. It's getting dried out. Floor is dry but the air is still damp. thanks

Keetha said...

that's a lot of flooding going on

Cheryl P. said...

Yes, we have insurance to cover the lower level. Not much damage was done when our sump pump failed either. One room of carpet had to be replaced.

Joanne said...

For 20 years I lived in a house with a sump pump. Double whammy; we were 2 miles from Lake Erie. If we dug a hole it filled with water in ten minutes. In that time we had two storms of the century that overpowered the city story sewers. Not fun. The job ahead is taxing. You might consider a sump pump with a marine battery back up for power failure.

Bee said...

I'm so sorry to hear you were affected by the storms. We live in the Albany Park neighborhood and parts of it were submerged and on the news, too. We were lucky.

Laurie Matherne said...

Not a cool SIMC post, in the fact that you have had some stress and damage. Floods are very damaging. I hope your house and town return to normal soon.

lisleman said...

That's good

lisleman said...

Records were broken. thanks

lisleman said...

We have gotten a few days of no rain now. I don't know if you have posted about your dad's unusual approach, you should. Using your bare feet as a water detector - genius. I would never be able to fall asleep. thanks

lisleman said...

thanks - yes there has been numerous moments of stress.

lisleman said...

Good to know it missed your place. When there is record amounts of water it shows up in new unexpected places. Here's to hoping for a good nice spring season now. thanks

lisleman said...

I was lucky to find a decent sump pump. The stores in the area were selling out. I drove miles to find one. Yes the power failure is extra protection but that option was not an option since I got one of two left on the shelf. I guess you need to live on hill if you live near a big lake.
thanks

lisleman said...

My wife would be able to give you a view of me that would be different than my blog does. It's great to hear you got a laugh. Many events that are not funny while they are happening can be funny to look back on.
Thanks for browsing by and spending a bit of time here. The text color could vary depending on the computer. On mine it looks white after it's posted and black-on-white while I'm typing it. I should find out if I can make it larger.

savannah said...

YIKES! glad you and yours are OK! xoxo

lisleman said...

thanks - It was much much worse in the part of town near the river. We are uphill from that area. Things are much better now.

Bearman Cartoons said...

That pipe looks like Nyan cat

lisleman said...

OH yeah I drew that on there in case you came by. I didn't even notice that. I assume you are pointing out the white mark where the scum was rubbed away. Interesting, do you think Nyan cat would be worth more than seeing an image of the Virgin Mary or Jesus?

unknownmami said...

I'm sorry about your pump, but I'm glad you guys are okay.

lisleman said...

Have not noticed a mold problem. I think the cooler temps probably help. Running a dehumidifier makes a big difference. thanks

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