Flooded Basement

SOOOO... a few weeks ago my cute neighbor was telling me about how their basement flooded... twice and I was thinking, "OH MAN, I am so glad that hasn't happened to us, I hope it never does.  That would really stink......"  Yes, yes it does stink... literally!!!

Sunday afternoon we enjoyed a HUGE rainstorm/thunderstorm!  It was so fun.  Trevor, Jared, Aaron and I sat out on the front porch and watched the rain just come down and it was heavy.  Trevor LOVED listening for the thunder and watching for the flash of lightning.  I LOVE thunderstorms and was just enjoying the peaceful afternoon.  Little did we know that in the BACKYARD it was not so peaceful.

We had just recently noticed that the rain spout next to the back window well was kind of leaking, but hadn't put enough thought or concern into it apparently because what happened was it all ran straight into the window well, which got too high and then into the basement through the window.

We would NEVER have caught it that night except Andrew wanted to play a game and so he went downstairs to get one and found the mess.  I am SO glad he did because otherwise we would have found it on Monday, when I am alone ALL day and ALL night.  That would have been so much worse.

Thanks to Graydon and Jana who lent us a shop-vac to get the water out and a pump to suck the water out of the window well.  It was a lifesaver because MORE rain has come and come and come and we would be swimming again... in more mud.

(Click on the collage for a bigger view)

We were SO lucky.  The water only went about 1/2 to 2/3s of the back area and really the damage was minimal!  I am amazed at all the stuff that wasn't ruined.  I am so grateful.  The carpet scraps are out to dry... if the rain will stay away long enough... and hopefully everything will be cleaned up, put back together and FIXED soon!