Pictures for Flood Event on June 21, 1997

We had 6.8" of rain in eight hours causing the water to come up to the wall of the house. The sewage water was 20" deep in the garage next to the house.

My 1964 Thunderbird was in that garage full of water in the interior, trunk, transmission, engine and rear end. The T-bird only had 66k original miles and was in perfect shape.

In the drive way was a roaring river with a current that could sweep you away. My 1987 Monte Carlo SS with T-Tops was parked in front of the 1987 Chevy Celebrity both cars were in the driveway and both had water in them halfway up the dashboards. In the end every car we owned was flooded, all of my insured cars were totaled and the uninsured car was a loss. All the cars were towed away to be assessed leaving a five car family without a car. Everything in the garage was covered in mud and most everything was discarded that could not be cleaned.

The water was higher than the window wells so water started filling up the basement through the window of the computer room. The water also came in through the walls after the walls started bowing. To stop the sewage water that started flowing from the floor drain we put a heavy tool box and foam rubber sheeting over it. If we hadn't done this the water would most likely have been to the level it was in the laundry sink which amost over flowed with sewage. It was lucky that the sump pumps run under water because after the sewers backed up, 14" of raw sewage and river water covered the finished basement. For clean up we through away furniture and tore up the carpets. A hose was required to flush the mud into the sump pump.


The front yard.


Another of the front yard.


The computer lab was destroyed.


The water was so high that it went over the window wells and started pouring in through the basement windows. We boarded up the window to slow down the water.


My Aireon 1200A jukebox that played 78 RPM records was destroyed.


The water was 14" deep with two sump pumps going full blast. Only one of the two sump pumps was submersible, but the non-submersible pump handled being under water alright.