We live in the Iowa Great Lakes. An area where I still frequently hear about the Great Flood of 1993 and all the damage sustained and the changes that the town made to prevent future floods. None of that stops the fact that living among fresh water lakes that were formed from receding glaciers can easily cause flooding.
We’ve seen it with the formation of the small slough in our yard-something that was dry and clear one year and now full of tall prairie grass and home to a couple of ducks and their baby ducks now.
But we are lucky in one regard. Despite the high water table and tendency for people to have their basements flood, ours does not under normal circumstances.
Tyler put together a hole in the basement for a sub-pump to help when the old concrete floor wicks up ground moisture. And the foam insulation sprayed all over the top of the rock foundation in our basement has stopped water from leaking through the stones. He even added a couple of window wells, to at least temporarily create a better barrier to the original wells made from crumbling bricks and broken plastic.
That didn’t stop our sub-pump hole from filling up after five days of rain…but at least we are lucky enough that we can keep things dry. We did end up using two pumps over the course of several hours in order to keep up with how quickly the pit filled itself back up.
Many around here and in nearby towns are struggling with basement flooding and streets being completely impassable.
Iowa friends and family, I hope your homes are okay and, if not, I hope you get the help you need to quickly get out of this bad situation. May we have a couple of dry days ahead!
In Sound Health 