I wrote about our power outage earlier this week. Power outages are rare for my neighborhood. My block is on the same grid as much of the commercial district, so the power company has extreme measures to keep this grid up and running. However, Monday we had a severe thunderstorm and we lost power for several hours that morning. Power outages give me the willies because we have two sump pumps in our basement that absolutely MUST stay on. If they are off for more than an hour, my basement floods.
Here’s a photo of our predicament Monday, when the water started to rise from the sump well. GULP.
Thank God, the power was restored before the water got too high. We’ve seen water rise up to three feet in that basement. It’s a constant worry, and I’ve seriously considered selling the property because the flooding causes me such anxiety. I just cannot live in a house and on property that floods when we have moderate to heavy rains. We are in the process of (slowly) dealing with the problem, but a large part of the problem has to do with my property is the only greenspace in a large area of asphalt parking lots, and there has been a lot of over-development in the lands up the hill from me. My yard seems to be the depository of all the run-off water, and my lawn can only soak in so much. So we have a high water table and it seeps up through the basement.
Anyway, all is well today. But I’m off to clean the basement floor again before it starts to smell like a pond!
15. August 2008 at 7:11 pm
That would be awful to have to worry about. It probably entails something ungawdly expensive to fix though.
15. August 2008 at 9:26 pm
You don’t have a sump pump?
Seriously, write “Ask this Old House” I’ve seen them go out and help people put in a good sump pump, even those with a high water table.
15. August 2008 at 9:39 pm
That totally stinks.
16. August 2008 at 8:42 am
That must be such a worry every time it rains! I hope it wasn’t too horrendous this time
16. August 2008 at 10:22 am
I can totally see why you’d consider selling the property, especially if the basement gets groundwater seepage.
I’ll bet your dehumidifier runs year round down there!
16. August 2008 at 11:45 am
Oh no! I’m sorry to see that! I definitely DO NOT miss having a basement. We have an attic now instead, and it’s so dang hot up there I refuse to store anything except empty boxes up there. Now I just have to worry if my water heater explodes and sends water soaking through the ceilings!
16. August 2008 at 11:47 am
Really looks wet I couldn’t find your Saturday photo hunt but thank you for the comment