The Floods Have Come

Multiple Barns, 2006, Oil on Paper, 16x20






Yesterday I mentioned that "barring some big catastrophe" I would be able to get everything done. Despite the fact that we have literally had 4 solid days and nights of rain, often torrential rain, I didn't consider the possibility of flooding, so now, of course, we have flooding. Clearly, I have control over the weather and I slipped up this time:-) Anyway, this morning I received several calls this morning canceling the kid's activities and by the third one I finally asked the person what was going on. She told me a state of emergency has been declared in our county and in several surrounding counties. Our town has had severe flooding, roads are washed out, including a low spot in our road, and people are being evacuated to temporary shelters. I was going to go into town to help out, but the radio says to stay put unless it's an emergency, so I guess I'll stay home for now. Out here on the farm, we have a lot more open area for run off but still, the ground is saturated and we actually have water pouring into our basement through the stone foundation. Luckily, there is a drainage system and there isn't too much standing water. We do have to get down there today though and clean up the junk that is on the floor so that the water doesn't get caught and start to pool. Thankfully, we just had our roof replaced, the old one definitely would not have held up under all of this rain. Our porch is a different matter however. We are planning to have it rebuilt in October, but the roof of it is in terrible shape and the ceiling is sagging terribly right now. I won't be shocked if the whole thing tumbles down in the next few days if it continues to rain. (The forecast is calling for rain until Friday.) Still, though, we are lucky. Many of our friends and neighbors have really bad old house basements and/or nearby streams and drainage issues. So far everyone I've talked to has water in their basements.

The kids are home today but I plan on trying to get at least a little bit of work done. Hopefully the weather will clear, despite the forecast, and things won't get worse.