Are you kidding? Flooding in December?

Enough is enough. We've been in the house nearly 6 months now. A little over three months ago, we had the supposed 100 Year Rain and the flooding that resulted. As some of you might remember, we were almost a house-boat at that time. But we managed to get through that and, in the process, make some upgrades (although costly) to the house that would help with extreme conditions. New drain tile system in the basement. New sump pump (1-1/2 horsepower) with a high-end backup system. We figured it would take one heck of a storm -- and perhaps power loss -- to reproduce those results.

We didn't expect to be tested in December.

The previous week or so had provided much snowfall. Five inches here. A couple of inches there. All told, we had quite an accumulation of the white stuff. I had already cleared the driveway numerous times. And we even had snow pile up and block our back doorway (see photo inset later in this story). Driving to and from work was always an adventure. And one "rush hour" evening produced tales of 4-6 hour drives for commuters. Ugh.

That snow was then followed with a below-freezing day on Christmas Day. Our high probably reached about 15-18 degrees.

And then the fun started. Temperatures started warming up. And they kept warming up. And the rains poured throughout the first half of Saturday. Snow piles were melting rapidly and, with the freezing cold ground, had nowhere to go. So the result was flooding. Lots of it. Houses backing to the river were faced with similar problems from a few months ago. The river rose to the backs of these homes. And the snows piled up at the end of the street produced a visual not unlike last September.

The water kept filling the ditch by the roadside until it overtook the ditch, rose over the driveway and partially up into the yard. Again, no river running down the road, but the effect was nearly the same: the pump just kept on running -- trying to keep up. And then later in the evening, the 2nd pump kicked on. And the two worked together for two solid days without a break, trying to push out the water just pouring into the sump system.

Unnerving? Without a doubt. I even pulled a few important items out of the basement. And I just hoped that these pumps would keep the water at bay until the ground could start handling some of it. We barely slept for two nights as we listened for the pumps, continually checked water levels -- and even had a scare when the 2nd pump had stuck and wasn't pumping out the water. I caught that just before it reached the top of the sump pit. Yikes!

Anyway. By Monday, the 2nd pump had dropped off to mere back-up status. By Tuesday, the main pump was finally getting a break, although only about 5 seconds between pushes. The basement stayed dry. The drain tile system held with no water seepage. And the music studio lives on for another day!

Just a few days prior, Su and I had a chance to hop on the huge snow hill at our nearby park. I'm sure glad we took some time out of the day for that. A day later, there wasn't even a snow hill remaining. Just water. Everywhere.

Reportedly, 2008 was a record year for our area, with over 50" of rainfall. I'm really hoping that 2009 doesn't end up being another record year.