Ben’s Blog

Dateline: Grand Rapids, MI.  Yesterday we had intense weather - hale wiped out miles of farmer’s fields, rain flooded streets and basements and winds snapped trees like toothpicks.  I left work during one of the lulls in the storm so that I could take Bailey to the vet, but was unable to make it to the vet’s office because the highway was shutdown due to a power line that fell, covering all lanes of traffic.  On the way home I called the office to offer a ride to others who had to walk a fair distance home or to their cars and then headed home to see what damage laid in my yard.  First, there was a tree blocking the entrance to my street but luckily there is another back way into our subdivision.  Luckily everything around my house was OK - jut very very wet.

Holly and I were both home now, both fearing the potential of flooding in our back yard and into our basement.  The creek/drainage ditch in that runs through our back yard goes from an inch of trickling water to a 3 foot deep river with raging current any time we get a fair amount of rain, and with almost 5 inches of rain in 5 hours we were well past a fair amount.  I had to pull my bridge away first because the water was getting close to washing it away, and then we watched, and waited all night.  5 years ago our basement flooded and the damage left behind was unimaginable - the worst is the fear that is left behind that rises every time it rains.  So long as the creek is moving we are OK, but the amount of rain was just too much and soon the water rose to within 15′ from our basement sliding glass door.

The creek that is normally 3-4′ wide was now over 30′ wide, wiping out landscaping and my garden.  The water peaked around 11:30 and then slowly went down - so crisis was averted, but we still spent hours cleaning the basement making sure nothing important was going to get damaged when the rain came.  For the first time in 5 years I was certain the basement was going to flood - the good thing is that I can be reasonably sure that we are safe in the future…if we were going to take on water it would have happened yesterday.

Here is a quick before and after:

Before:

After: