Rains that drenched Chicago on Thursday could have been 20 inches of snow
Chicago was hit with a major thunderstorm last night, and so was our basement.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/weather/chi-tom-skilling-explainer_0227feb27,0,1112107.story
We sustained a good amount of water in three major areas of the basement. It's apparent our sump pump was not working well, if at all, and that the front door to our basement has a drain that's either completely blocked, or non-existent. I found this out a little after 5pm on Thursday, when there was a 'sploosh' sound as my sneaker met water. It was about a eighth of an inch deep. After wrestling with a pipe gushing water from the sump pump (think like when you see a firefighter trying to control the firehose, okay, not that scary); I was in a two foot crawl space, wrestling a wild hose, gushing water). Dan and Ken then saved the day. Ken went out in the pouring rain and fixed a drain pipe that had been smashed, extended our drain pipes, and then worked into the late hours installing a new, shiny sump pump, and a wonderful, sturdy pipe from the pump to the outtake. Dan heroically baled gallons upon gallons of water from our office. We have a new addition to the household that I am in LOVE with, a super charged shop vac.
This morning, the sump pump continued to slurp up water, and the basement remains dry. Dan dug for over two hours, looking for a drain in front of the basement door. We are paralyzed today: Do we continue with this project? What if we have another downpour? Dan and I are at a loss right now, but tonight we will reconvene, and get back on the horse. When my heart isn't hurting so much, I'll post a few 'flood' pictures.
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