Flood Waters

I had a flood last night ... I am taking a break to drink tea and tell you about it. I will post some photos later.

At 7, water started oozing over the front door sill. I made three phone calls, and by the time I was making the third I was ankle deep in filthy water everywhere on the ground floor. It was flowing in steadily ... far too fast for me to be able to mop it up. I tried bailing outside and mopping inside.

Then I made the three phone calls.

I left at message the first time ... an urgent message ... but he didn't call back.

The next was to Tamarak for advice. She and her Carino arrived within an hour with their two dogs, their dinner ingredients, axes and shovels . I was not sure the dogs should have come but they were actually helpful later.

The third was to Eric who built my retaining wall. He came within half an hour with a chain saw, ice picks and shovels.

The four of us worked in the dark until 9:30 and managed to clear a path for the water. Eric sawed through and removed a couple of trees that were blocking the creek. Then Eric went home and we went inside where Tammy cooked dinner and Carlos and I began the mop up job.

After dinner we finished moving the only (thank god) drenched carpet and other things and mopped some more.

The dogs tried to help by slurping up water as fast as dog tongues can lap.

They all left at midnight. By then we had basically just a dirty wet floor downstairs. I turned the heat way up so that the floor would dry itself overnight.

This morning I began the job of sweeping to be followed by disinfecting and moving things back. Leonard (a local farmer who clears my road) will come over later this morning to help me make sure the creek can run steadily without blocking up. There is far too strong a current for me to work safely alone.

My back feels as if it is broken. I may have to call a cleaner to help. But the only thing that got lost or irreparably broken was the flashlight I lent to Eric. He stumbled and fell in the stream and the flashlight was swept into the lake.

My retaining wall held fine ... it was just too much water for the creek whose flow was impeded. I hadn't gone out at all yesterday, and the day before the creek was snow covered in parts and running freely in others so I thought everything was fine.

Kenya on the other hand had been acting strangely ... she knew there were problems. Fortunately dogs are above saying "I told you so."