Last night Chicagoland was pummeled by what I can only characterize as a monsoon rain—six inches over just an hour or so, more in some places. The Edens Expressway was closed for much of the night because the underpasses were flooded. Our street flooded curb to curb which isn’t terribly unusual.
However, something unusual did happen. How unusual? The plumber who we called for emergency service said he’d never seen anything like it.
An enormous hole formed in one of our overhead sewer pipes—roughly 2 inches by 3 inches. A gout of water shot out of the pipe and splashed against the wall, a distance of perhaps six or nine inches. About a half inch of dirty water filled about a third of the newer, lower section of our basement, soaking a lot of what we had in that section of the basement.
The plumber decided that the way to fix the problem was to saw off the pipe at each side of the hole and replace the section. We made an executive decision to create a temporary seal for the pipe with a heckuva lot of duct tape (making 1,013 uses) and tackle the problem in the morning after it had stopped raining since the worst case scenario would be a massive sewer backup after he’d sawed off the pipe.
The plumber returned around 8:00am this morning and was done a couple of hours later. Now we’re cleaning up which is a lot tricker than it sounds. Fortunately, just mud and rust, no sewage.
I’m sorry to hear that. My wife was at a concert in Soldier Field that got cut short. Sounds like the worst of it was a band from north on the Edens through your parts. Naperville got off relatively lightly. You must have a long time plumber. Most had to be distracted with sump pumps.
I feel for you. Hopefully, your homeowners insurance covers it.
I would recommend everybody get flood insurance. Check your homeowners policy. I doubt it covers water damage from outside water sources.
(You do not need to include the property value, but it is useless trying to convince your mortgage company or the bank that flood insurance does not cover the land under the house.)
@Tastybits, I thought flood insurance didn’t exist or was quite poor for basements. You may not know what a basement in your parts 😉
@Dave, sorry to hear that. I was reading this last night when we experienced an unanticipated flash flood. It was only about two inches in ten minutes, but flooded the street and took out the electricity. A car, not realizing what he was driving into as he drove down the street further into the water, pulled up into my driveway then drove across the front yard to get back to a drier street. Basement stayed dry, checked on the location of the duct tape . . .
@PD Shaw
It covers the main structure, and it may include any connected structures – carports, sheds. The website or an insurance agent could give you more details. The costs are based upon the “flood maps”, and it is more expensive for the more flood prone.
In New Orleans and along the river, the older houses were built elevated, and the second floor is called the first. The ground floor was enclosed, and it is called the basement. It is not what you all would call a proper basement, but then, you do not know how to cook beans properly.
You guys ever get tornadoes there?
Steve
We get them occasionally in Chicago. In St. Louis we got them frequently.