So, with all this rain, our basement flooded tonight.

I want to find historic maps of Eureka, because I'm pretty sure this old house, built in 1899, is on a creek...now buried beneath the streets and houses.  We have a cemented area in our basement for water to collect with a sump pump all set up ready to go...because we need it.  Water seems to just oozes out of the ground all around our house...horsetails, a swamp loving plant, grow all over the yard.

When we checked the water level in the basement two days ago there was just a little bit in the basin, and other than the winter of '07-08 the water has never gotten very deep, even when we have a good rain, and we haven't needed to use the sump pump.  Well, this evening I went to fill the bathtub for Noah and we had no hot water.  It occurred to me that since the hot water tank is in our basement that there may be some trouble lurking beneath our floors.

I slipped on my Boggs, grabbed a flash light, put on a rain coat and stepped outside the back door and made my way to the basement hatch.  Unlocking it, I propped the lid up and shinned the flashlight down the steps seeing what there was to see.  I started down the steps, trying to make out the cement basin under the house, just how full was it?  Last step, splash...CRAP!  Water all the way to the steps, not only was the pool full, it had overflowed all over the basement and was deep enough to put out the pilot light on the hot water heater.  Thank god I don't keep anything down there and for Boggs.

Splish splash, over the the edge of the cement, I could see the pump submerged at the bottom, the hose coiled at the bottom of the stairs and the plug hanging from the post, a pier, holding up my house.  I held my breath and inserted the plug into the outlet, obviously wired that spot just for this purpose, and wala, the pump started and water began poring out the end of the hose!  I quickly grabbed the hose and ran it up the stairs and out in to the yard.  Wasn't long before I realized that I was creating a new flood!  I pulled the yard hose off the side of the house, attached it to the one coming from the basement and dragged the new end out the back gate and into the ally.  Which is paved with a metal grate about halfway down....this also supports my creek-near-by idea.

After about an hour, I checked the basement one last time for tonight and turned the pump off.  The pool was half empty, water from the rest off he basement slowing flowing into it, I'm sure by morning it'll be full again....and I'll need to run the pump for another hour or so tomorrow.  I'm glad the rain has let up.