rain leading to flooding

We moved into our Roselle house in March of 2004.  Before buying it we looked it over carefully and also had a home inspection. It was fairly clear that the basement did not get water.  I could tell by looking in the corners and along the baseboards for water stains, sniffing for mildew and noting that the owners things were stored on the floor and not up on boards.

We had no water in the basement for the first three or four years.  I now look back on those years longingly.  How wonderful to have lightning flashing, thunder crashing and rain falling by the bucketful and have a dry basement.  Part of that wonderfulness comes from freedom from worry.

Worry is now the byword.  Even when we don't get water, and we usually don't, I am always worried.

Today, May 29th, the Sunday of Memorial weekend it rained like hell.  I kept going in the basement to check on the sump pump and to look at the sliding glass door where nearly all of the water leaks in.

All was fine until the last round of rain.  Around 1 PM it rained hard, very hard.  There had been lots of rain the day before and also plenty of rain over the previous two hours.  This hard rain lasted for about 15 minutes.

During that last heavy rain I went down stairs to check yet again, the lower level patio was full of water and it was leaking in under the sliding glass door.  There was probably about 20 gallons of water on the floor - imagine four 5 gallon buckets of water spilled onto the floor of your basement.

The water was bubbling in under the door.  I called up to Sarah and Amanda, "We've got water!"

I grabbed old towels and rags and tried to block the water at the sliding glass door.  I took more towels and used a mop to push them through the water and towards the floor drain in the laundry room.

Amanda came down.  She didn't want to walk in the water because it was icky.  I won't say more about that but you might imagine my thoughts at that moment.  She started laying rags and towels out and using a mop to direct them.  Sarah went out and used a broom to clear the drain in the lower patio.  That was a vital job.

Baker was sleeping.  Sweetie the cat was nowhere to be found.

Water covered about twenty percent of our floor.  The tile in the finished part of the basement is already ruined from about seven previous floods.  

We continued to push rags and towels through the water.  The sump pump ran constantly.  Baker came downstairs after most of the work was done and then mostly stood and watched me work.

The floor won't be really dry for a week or more.  But we got up all of the standing water and I set up a fan and left it.

Not a good day.