The Flood of 2010

Hey kid ... don't wade in that ... there's sewage in them there waters! No really ... you idiot ... oh well ... just watch out for turds!

Unfortunately this is the cross street closest to our house ... and the river/street still had to crest. A kayak (no joke) was seen ambling down the road about 1/2 hour later. We ended up with soggy spots in our basement carpet and 1/3" in our mechanical room but other than that ... we came out pretty good. On the street behind us .... you are looking towards it in this pic, the basements had much more water and damage. If you zoom in on this pic, you will see cars submerged up to the windows that unfortunately miss gauged the water's depth.

"Hey you idiot don't drive in through that ... No really it's deep ... Geez ... see what happens! Idiot! Just watch out for floating turds when you get out." Even in the hottest of summers or the coldest of winters ... La Grange is a front yard community ... meaning every one is always outdoors, usually in the front yard and depending on what time of day ... either with a hot cup of joe or a cold brew (adults of course). Well we were all out about 8:30am, cup of joe in hand, dazed .... confused, staring at the river that used to be Kensington Ave. As my neighbor Mike put it, "It looks like the morning after". We were pajama clad zombies, with our coffee wondering what to do next. Not much you can do but get another cup of coffee and take photo's of the damage.

We figured our sump pump bit the dust about 1/2 way through the storm. Over 8" was too much for it to handle ... it just quit. As I type, we have two industrial dehumidifiers and 8 industrial fans going in the basement. It sounds like we are living on the G concourse at Ohare. No joke, it's white noise at it's finest.

All told we were lucky ... a plumber showed up at 9am and replaced the sump and redirected the water. He also said our back up sump was malfunctioning ... "Really" I replied, "you sold it to us two years ago". "Well warranties are only a year on back up sumps" he retorted back. Great ... you idiot. The boys have had a new word added to their vocabulary today.