The "Lost Memories - The Flood of 2011" Story

It was an ordinary day. Raining! Heavy! And, I need to leave about 11:30 AM to head to the Lancaster General Hospital for back surgery. Woke about 6:30 AM, showered with a special solution to help prevent infections in the hospital. Dressed in freshly laundered clothes and headed down the stairs. My wife and I knew that the sump pump had been running all night, but I feared what I would find when I headed to the basement. "OK so far!" I yelled up to her from the basement after looking in the french drain we have in our basement. We had moved almost everything to higher ground last night, just in case (or so I thought!). We have had flooding twice in our basement since moving to our house. First time was almost 2 feet and flooded because I didn't realize we were supposed to have a sump pump in the french drain. We evidently have an underground stream that travels through the neighborhood, and it makes a stop in our basement. Second time it was only about 6 inches because the pump kept working and emptied the water shortly after it stopped coming into the basement. Found I needed a bigger pump, so I bought a BIG one and left the other one next to it hoping that they will stop the water this time. Kept checking the water level in the drain every half hour and at 11:00 AM, when I walked into the basement, it was just starting to get the carpet wet. I turned off our gas heating system in my power panel to avoid any problems with the gas burner and headed up the steps to make a few calls. Had to leave in 30 minutes for the hospital. Little did I remember that I had plugged my smaller pump into a receptacle on the burner and not it how no power. Called the carpet company and burner company and got my name on their list. Called my insurance company to tell them I will need an adjuster in the next week of so. OK, not much else I can do but watch the water level rise. We left for the hospital with about 4 inches of water in the basement. My wife had called out oldest son, Derek, and asked him to stop at noon on his way home from work and check on the basement. Great move! He found the smaller pump not working and realized what had happened. Found an extension cord and plugged it in another outlet and it started to lower the water which was now close to a foot. By the time my wife returned to the house about 9:00 PM that evening, the water was gone. The following day she had to handle the chore of calling the carpet and burner companies and arranging for times for them to arrive. Two days later I returned home to recover from the surgery and witnesses all the labor she had done to help in our flood recovery. We had saved most items, but a few irreplaceable items didn't make it. A box of my mother's "memories" was under water and looks as if it may not be able to be saved. High School Diplomas and yearbooks from my mom and dad, a collection of antique fans, and a case of cassette tapes that had my dad's Barbershop solo recordings as well as duets that my dad and I did while members of our church choir were soaked in water. Items that are irreplaceable! Have placed tapes in an area to try and dry them, but not giving it much hope. The books and diplomas as well as the fans also cannot be salvaged. Keeping them until the insurance adjuster arrives to see what value he can assign to them. No matter what price he assigns, the memories can never be recaptured. They will be part of the lost memories of the flood of 2011. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. PS - photos from the top are: basement at 11:00 AM, water rushing from the sump pump on the side of our house, stairs in garage holding the cassette tapes for drying, my mom's photo in her yearbook (Dorothea Elizabeth Cochran on the bottom right), dad's photo from his yearbook (Paul Henry Woods), and a few of the antique fans that were damaged in the flood.