Update

I’m sorry, I hate so many posts without pictures. I actually was going to take a picture of the flooded office, but was so busy cleaning up said office that I didn’t ever run up and get the camera. I’m largely back to normal in the office – for the time being. But I haven’t put everything away yet, since it’s supposed to keep raining…

Water in the basement is something we plan on, really. I keep my computer on a brick, all the cords off the floor. Everything in my office is in plastic boxes, for the most part. Inventory that sits on the floor under the shelves is held in boxes with feet that keep them about an inch off the floor (usually more than enough for the office). But the office usually does not flood.

But over the last several years, I’ve noticed what I’ve been calling Mystery Pond developing in one particular spot. I’ll come down after a rain storm and Poof – Mystery Pond. I’ve come down during rain, and not been able to spot the source of the water. I’ve put scrap paper around the perimeter of the area, hoping to spot at least the vicinity of the source. Nothing. I thought perhaps it was seeping up from underneath. Then, this year, we noticed our garage flooding regularly. We suspected the downspout. It empties into an underground cistern that hasn’t been inspected for years, and was not in use before we replaced the gutters.

Well, now we know why. Apparently, the cistern is cracked or something, sending water directly into the basement area where my office and the garage are located. I did find the source of the water into my office. It’s a small area where the wall meets the floor. Thursday night, there was so much water shooting in, it looked exactly like a drinking fountain – that volume, and that type of arch off the floor. The shop vac could not keep up. We emptied it (25 gal) about once every 10 minutes. Yeah.

All things considered, though, it was not too bad. I just moved everything off the floor, even the plastic boxes. I lost two boxes of FedEx shipping supplies, not a big deal since hardly anyone chooses FedEx these days. (I had to choose between rescuing Wally’s play tent from the water encroaching from the Family Room, or the shipping supplies. Uh, easy pick, there.) I moved a lot of things that I’ve never been concerned about before, just in case.

And then I closed down, left town for the weekend, and came back on Monday to mop up the giant Not Longer A Mystery Pond and get orders processed.

I’m leaving things off the floor, and that means that some things are oddly stacked. The asiles of my fabric storage area (on higher ground) are packed with plastic bins that belong elsewhere, making the process of getting fabric somewhat tedious. And the place looks awful for in-person shoppers, but they’ve all been very understanding.

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For those of you wondering, I live close to downtown Des Moines, which is experiencing and will continue to experience flooding in the streets. But we live far enough away, and far enough uphill, that we will be largely unaffected by the general street flooding that is happening. Unless the storm sewers back up, and then we’ve got a real problem on our hands!