The Flood of Aught-Eight

Among the things I haven't had the time to write about was last week's storm. Last Wednesday (I think), we had a very sudden, very heavy rainfall which dumped about 5 inches of rain in an hour.

The sky went from sunny to overcast in about 30 minutes and you could see the storm front moving in from the west. When the rain started, it was like someone turned on a faucet full blast--no gentle summer rain, this.

It was a busy day and I just kept working (and saving frequently, in case we lost power) and listening to the rain pouring down. I started to hear a dripping sound, but couldn't quite figure out where it was coming from. I walked up toward the front door and couldn't see anything, so I walked back toward the back of the studio. As I walked into the back office the water was coming faster. I looked toward the back door and water was coming in beneath the door.

Mayday! Mayday! We're hit and we're taking water!

I ran to the bathroom and grabbed every hand towel in the studio (3) and a large bucket. I couldn't find anything else to soak up water, so I just started dropping the towels and wringing them out into the bucket. could. AAfter nearly an hour, the rain began to let up and I was able to take a minute to assess the damage. The carpet had a semi-circle of water surrounding the back door--it's radius was about 4 feet and other than a filing cabinet that I had already moved, didn't get close to anything vital. Water came in the front door, too, but it wasn't as serious. I peeked in the basement and that was a big mess. About 6 inches of water. All in all, not too serious.

I decided to run home to grab more towels to work on drying the carpet (and guarding against more flooding). On the way home, I come to a puddle which ran the width of my street. It looked to be about 12 inches or so, which wouldn't be a problem for my GMC Jimmy. And that would have held true if it had only been 12 inches. Even 18 inches wouldn't have been a big deal. Unbeknownst to me (in reality, I guess it was actually knownst to me, but I never really gave it a second thought), there is a big dip in that particular spot on the street. As I drove in, the water got really deep, really fast.

The truck died in the middle of the pond as water splashed over the hood and hit the windshield. I was irked but not really concerned until the water started coming in from beneath the passenger-door (this water-rushing-under-the-door thing is going to be a lifelong phobia, I fear). I needed a second to regroup and decide what to do. The only thing I could think to do was get out of the truck (through the driver-side window) and push. Michelle was in the truck with me so she got to pilot my new GMC U-Boat while I pushed in hip-deep water.

I actually managed to move it 5-6 feet by myself when we got to the other side of the dip and I was pushing uphill. If I didn't find some help quickly, this was not going to end well. Just as I'm about to summon that superhuman strength people get in emergency situations, two teenagers came running out from their house to help push. The two of them together probably weighed about as much as I weight, but the three of us were able to get the truck out of the water and up to high ground. I didn't have my wallet on me, so I couldn't give them anything, but I was more grateful than words could express. The kindness of strangers, man, that's something you can never count on, but it goes a long way toward restoring my faith in mankind.

Anyway, the truck was flooded and would not start. I did my best to use towels and whatever to soak up the water in the truck so that there isn't any standing water in it and leave it there. I tried to start it the next two days and it still wouldn't start.

After a trip to the mechanic (I kept picturing the scene in Risky Business with the Porsche 928), it started again, but the transmission was screwy.

After a trip to the transmission shop, all is well.

It was a whole lot of running around and more than a few dollars to get Jimmy up and running again, but I can't really be upset because it was my own fault. I guess I could be upset with myself, but that seems to be a waste of time. At least I learned a valuable lesson: If you are unsure about making it through safely, maybe it's time to look for an alternate route.