Rain has finally gone away

On Monday we woke up to a flood in the basement. Ankle-deep water and more flowing in through a hole (!) in the foundation. Rik tried to remove some water in the early morning. You should have seen me with my jeans rolled up past my knees, barefoot in my rain boots. Of course my feet were immediately soaked through. I pumped what I could but had to give up soon. I really didn't feel safe using electric equipment while standing in 4 inches of water! We finally learned that we could put the wet vac outside, use an extension cord to get power form upstairs, and run a longer hose into the water to get rid of more water faster.

Later in the afternoon one neighbor loaned us a larger wet vac and another neighbor came over to help unclog the floor drain. He even helped relight the pilot light on the hot water heater. Another neighbor told me that they had a similar experience a few years ago and would recommend someone to seal the basement. We live on a great block and I know what our summer home improvement project is going to be.

It took hours but the basement is finally drying. Thankfully it's not finished, just storage and appliances, furnace etc. on a concrete floor. Everything is up on risers (except the hot water tank), so clearly this has happened before in the house's 86 year history.

In the middle of dealing with the flood, I found myself scratching. I'd woken up with some bites. I don't know if they were fleas or from a spider hiding in the extra blanket we pulled out this weekend. So I spent the afternoon doing multiple loads of laundry at a friend's home. (Couldn't use the washer and dryer in the basement, not with a flood.) In case we really did have a flea issue, I had to wash all the blankets, sheets, pillowcases, comforter covers, pajamas, AND the dog beds in hot water. Plus flea-treat the dog again.

Seattle got 2 inches of snow on Saturday and 4 inches of rain on Monday, an amazingly large amount in a very short period. No wonder the ground was saturated.

Last night Rik and I both realized that compared to the flooding that destroyed people's homes, what we experienced was just a (relatively easily dealt with) inconvenience.