So close...

The rain from Hurricane Isaias 2020 started around 8 PM Monday  and continued all night. I got up a few times at night to check and we were doing well. By 0800 the next day we had 4 inches of free board in the sump and the rain was abating.  I walked around the yard and block and the sewers were doing a good job of taking the run off away. I used my water tracing dye to further study the water drainage in my back yard. Yes, this is where the problem is. But, I left for a dental appointment thinking we were OK. 

But, when I got home there was about 1 inch of water at the deepest and about 80 percent of the basement had water.

Alicia decided to begin the clean up immediately and she did a great job. Meanwhile, I contacted my insurance company, but never heard back from them. I had to make a trip to Rockville, MD  to pick up a new monitor for my computer, so while I was out I got five fans and a dehumidifier at Home Depot.   

The fans are doing a good job. This evening when I checked, a lot of the walls are visibly dry, and the carpet on the first stair felt dry.  The decision to withhold the sheet rock and baseboard repairs until after the drainage contractors do their work was a good idea.  So, the damage is minimal. The real concern will be getting everything dry to prevent mold growth. 

I heard an interesting bit of news today. Many citizens in the city are upset with the frequency of flooding recently. Some of them took it upon themselves to enter the sewers to conduct an inspection. They reportedly found evidence that the sewers are not being maintained as they should be. I don't know all the details, but I expect we will be reading about it in the local paper soon.

The City government is blaming the recent spate of flooding on rare 50 - 100 year storms. But as the Alexandria Times said, "Clearly, if city leaders think these are one in 50- or 100-year events, then they need to revise their calculations." We have now had 4 such storms in less than 12 months.