When it rains....

When it rains here in North Carolina, it pours. Literally. Yesterday we had a rainy, gray day. I knew it was wet, but not exactly how wet until Drew told me we had 2.5 inches of rain by the afternoon. By the time we had the kids in bed and were cleaning up house, lightning began striking again and thunder shook the house. Severe weather warnings began ringing on the radio stations and we opened our porch door to watch it torrential pour down the rain. I've never seen it rain as hard as it did last night. Subsequently, we found a little problem in our basement....

Anyone want to join in? "And the rain, rain, rain came down, down, down and Piglet started bailing...."

That's what I felt like. Panic. Bailing. Water everywhere. This picture really doesn't do it justice. Our basement is sloped slightly towards the door -- thankfully because it stopped the rush of water from ruining all the toys in the basement just behind this pole.

We had nearly 3 more inches of rain between 8 - 8:45 p.m. -- causing our over-saturated backyard and all the run-off water from the apartment complex behind our house to pour into our yard, down the steps to our basement and rush through a crack in the door to our basement.

This is the door leading up to the backyard. When Drew went outside to investigate the overflowing basement, he found the drain clogged with all the debris swept from the yard and water up to this line. I was standing up to my ankles in the water with these pathetic towels trying to stop the rush of water while he unclogged the drain. As you can see, I was not very successful.

The giant plush carpet the previous tenants had left behind is sadly floating on several inches of water here.

There was so much water already on the floor that when I tried to put the towels against the door to stop it, instead they were just soaked and did no good. After a call to the landlord to see if they had suggestions for how to get the water out of our drain-less basement (at least we haven't found the drain yet) -- we called the next best thing: my father-in-law Steve!! He knows how to fix ANYTHING. Or at least he'll attempt to fix anything once. :) With some helpful suggestions we were on our way to tackle the rain storm again.

Step 1: Unclog drain.

Drew began trying to unclog the pipe that was now completely full of leaves -- but had thankfully, drained most of the water off the stairs first. No dice.

Step 2: Suck up as much water as possible.

With our 6-gallon capacity wet/dry vacuum, Drew began sucking up water and transporting it to the downstairs toilet. Over an hour later -- and 21 trips-- 126 gallons of water were dumped in the toilet.

This is how I kept track while holding the extension cord out of the water. We were hoping be both wouldn't be shocked or electrocuted with all the standing water, lightning and plugged in appliances. :)

Our carpet is still ruined, the basement a mess and water still sits on our floor. We are holding out for a neighbor's squeegie and snake to try to get the remaining water out of the basement and try to unclog the drain before more rain comes.

So much for a quiet evening with the Bachelorette premiere!

Hope everyone else stayed nice and dry.

Over and out --