Washed Away

We got a ton of rain on Tuesday afternoon. Our basement flooded. Not just a little bit, which often happens when it rains...but a LOT. It soaked quite a lot of the stuff we had stored down there (mostly empty boxes we never flattened after we moved and some boxes of random crap we haven't used in a long time). I got the two-plus inches water to drain and I cleaned up the wet stuff. Ok. Not a huge deal. I spent the rest of the night in my wellies, moving important things upstairs or to higher ground just in case it happened again (since the waters already claimed my two old printers and a keyboard, I didn't want it to get the Christmas decorations).

Wednesday afternoon, it poured again. Therefore, the basement flooded again...this time much much worse. Wall-to-wall. Everything was soaked. The boxes I left the previous day...the boxes that I figured were safe because they were far beyond the current line of water...were all soaked. Some things had even floated across the room with the currents. It was a mighty flood. So, I spent all Wednesday night breaking down slimy cardboard boxes and trying to salvage our previously dry stuff. Brian came over and helped move some heavier things...and to watch So You Think You Can Dance.

I barely slept Wednesday night thanks to the smell from the basement. Oh, what a smell! My brain was going around and around trying to figure out what to do next. Earlier that evening I had spoken with our landlord (who now lives in FL...) and he suggested wet-vacuuming the carpet (yes, part of the basement is carpeted...smart) and if it needed to be disposed of, he had no problem with that. He okayed getting a dehumidifier as well. So I spent the entire night worrying about how I could get my hands on a wet-vac, what sort of dehumidifier to get, and wishing I could do it all at that very moment just to stop the smell!

Thursday morning I "got up" and decided that I wasn't going to work. I was going to fix the basement. I got in the shower to try and wake up and I found that there was no hot water...the pilot light was out on water heater. Aaaaargh!

I called my boss to explain why I wouldn't be in to work and he gallantly offered to come over and fix the water heater as well as bring his wet-vac! Hooray! He's the best!

So, I spent Thursday morning vacuuming the water out of the rugs. The back of one of them was spotted black with old mildew. Evidently I had found the source of the horrible smell. The rest of the day was spent emptying wet boxes (god we have so much crap!) and making a huge pile of soggy cardboard. I went out and bought a dehumidifier (I took Dad's advice and just got whatever they had at Sam's Club instead of agonizing over it) and some cleaning supplies to give the basement floor a good mopping.

At 6:30 or so Stephen and Brian came over to help get rid of the carpets. Stephen made short work of it by ripping them up with a box cutter - how satisfying! - and we dragged the pieces out to the garage. The smell instantly improved and my life was suddenly slightly more normal. Brian used his big, manly muscles to get the dehumidifier down the stairs. We could literally watch the floor dry after we turned it on. Then I treated Brian to dinner at Turoni's because he's been so helpful...and because I really really really wanted pizza.

I think this whole ordeal was a blessing in disguise. Not only did it force us to get rid of all the old boxes we've been moving with for ten years, but it also forced us to remove the mildewy carpet and dehumidify the basement, which will hopefully lead to a more healthy respiratory environment.

I say "us" but I actually mean "me" because Neil is in North Carolina. Go Me! I'm awesome. He owes me one, don't you think? Of course, it was partly my fault that the basement flooded in the first place because I didn't close the drain to the utility sink...and when it rains hard, the sewers back up and the pressure causes water to fly out of the drains.... Oops. My bad. I guess I get what I deserve. But still. Help would have been nice.

God, I am so tired.