The sort of fun that's not

[fenchurch]

What a way to spend the evening... We've been getting slammed with rain all day. The real stuff, not our normal everyday drizzle. And then it was like the skies opened up and someone dumped a cosmic bucket of water over us.

To give you an idea, it had just started really coming down when rackham got home early from work... he immediately went out with a rake and cleared the drain out at the end of our driveway (we're at the bottom of a cul-de-sac, so all the water runs down the gutters to the drainage there) then came inside. Around that point the power went out for the first time, so we went around shutting off computers and Rackham started working to rearrange some of the UPS systems we have set up for our servers... and I decided to brave the deluge and run to my car to get something. It had been, maybe, twenty minutes at that point since Rackham had cleared the drain. The water at the bottom of our front stairs? Was about three inches deep. It happened THAT FAST.

I ran downstairs and told him we had a problem... then proceeded to grab everything I could find on the garage floor and toss it onto any available higher level surface. The water was already about an inch deep and extending three feet or so into the garage. Rackham finished what he was doing with the server and grabbed the rake again to try to get the drain flowing... by this point, the water at the end of the driveway was up over his knees.

The good news is, that took care of the problem and the water receded. We spent the next two hours pulling up everything that could have possible gotten wet (the water ended up about halfway back in our garage). Thankfully, we had quite a bit of stuff already in Rubbermaid tubs and/or sitting off the ground on Ikea garage shelving. We also, in two hours, managed to get the garage cleaned up, the water vacuumed up (I am now SO glad we invested in that wet/dry shop-vac), and the water-logged cardboard all torn down and tossed in the recycle bin. The other good news is that I was hefting boxes of books and videotapes with nary a twinge in my shoulders. I did manage to give myself an asthma attack though... exertion+stress+dust=no breathing for me. Rescue inhalers are our friends.

We're both utterly exhausted now, but we shouldn't have to worry about mildew.

On the good news front, although the electricity has been flickering all evening and we've had a few brownout moments, we haven't lost power completely since around 5:00pm. However, due to the conditions, we've powered down our desktops and switched off the television and accompanying equipment so they hopefully won't be damaged in any surges. Since the real edge of the storm isn't supposed to hit for another hour or so, we're pretty sure we won't have power for long.

I also have to say that wildrider and rahirah are goddesses of baked goods. All the tumult of the day has been balanced out a bit by sinfully scrumptious Christmas goodies! Thank you for the treats!! And I *will* be badgering you for recipes.

I'm really glad, too, that I happened to stop by PCC Market earlier today to see if they had any organic marshmallows (they were completely out) and picked up a roasted chicken instead... this meant we pretty much had our dinner entirely ready-made! I ran to Safeway about an hour or so ago to pick up a few last minute things... and it looks like Juanita Creek ran over the road just up from us (the only road in or out of our neighborhood, actually), judging from the debris. And when I got to the bottom of the hill on NE 108th, Juanita Creek was still flowing over the road. Yikes!!

It's bad all over the northwestern coast, from what I understand... and I saw on the news that a woman over in the Capitol Hill area of Seattle got trapped in her basement apartment as it filled with water during the deluge that flooded our garage. According to the news report I saw, it completely filled her apartment and the rescuers had to cut a hole in the floor of the apartment above hers and send in divers to pull her out... she'd been underwater for about 8 minutes at that point, but from the reports I just heard, it sounds like they were able to resuscitate her, thank heavens. ETA: Apparently, the early were reports were wrong and she could not be revived. :-( It makes me shudder just to think about it though... it's the stuff of nightmares.

Comments

[petzipellepingo.livejournal.com]

Boy, we had minor flooding in our area about 10 days ago when we had 30 straight hours of rain but nothing like that. Our local river overflowed its banks and flooded a road but that was about it. However about 10 years ago said river during a very wet Spring flooded over so much that houses in the floodplane were shifted off their foundations.
Regarding the brownouts, etc. do you have a whole house surge protector? I had an electrician install one a few years just in fact of a massive power surge. Might be worth checking in to.
Sending rain free vibes along.

[queenofattolia.livejournal.com]

Good grief! I hope you guys will be spared any more flooding, because I don't think anyone wants a Wet Christmas. I suppose we'll be getting some of that rain soon, too, though. In any event, stay dry.

[kazzy-cee.livejournal.com]

OMG! Water rising that fast is incredibly frightening and I'm glad you rescued everything in time. The story about the woman in the basement apartment was incredibly lucky - I hope she recovers OK.

[deborahw37.livejournal.com]

OMG how scary for you!

But I'm glad that you managed to save most stuff and that it didn't get in the house .

eek!

[fishsanwitt]

Holy crap! I'm glad you were able to move most of your stuff.

That poor woman in the basement apartment.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

Meep! I think you better start collecting gopher wood and get out your cubit ruler....

How terrible about the poor woman in her basement.

[nmissi.livejournal.com]

Oh, honey. I'm so sorry you're going through that. If you need to talk, call me. It sounds like everything's okay, but I know exactly how scary/frustrating floods can be.

Praying for you both, and glad everything seems to be all right. For you, at least. That poor woman, her poor family.

[wildrider.livejournal.com]

Man, I really hope they're right that some of that rain comes down here (supposedly Sunday). We're drier than dry things. (I can't remember the last time it rained.)

Wow, UPS was a lot faster than I expected! Yay! I'm glad all arrived safely.

[pmgoose.livejournal.com]

Yikes! *HUGS*

[sabrinanymph.livejournal.com]

Guh. I'm glad everything was all right there. It was kind of windy here last night, but not much rain, and certainly not windy to the effect you got on the other side of the mountains. May the trees (God bless them) stay up, and the water stay down!