Downpour...

It's been raining here all week long. We have had so much rain! A nearby city has has a record of 9 inches in 48 hours!! Unfortunately, our new house didn't do so well in the rain. We found leak in the garage that we hoped was localized... but after down pouring for 2 days straight, it just couldn't hold up. The leak spread to both levels of the house. Both floors have carpet wetness but no watermarks in the paint. We've made a claim with the insurance company, so we'll see how things work out, and hopefully it will be fixed before the next storm.

Meanwhile, I was watching our back door that is a walkout from the basement. The ground is sloped that direction and if the water puddled there long enough, we'd have a bit of a problem. But it seemed that each time we had a downpour large enough to cause a bit of damage there, the rains backed off. Last night I laid in bed listening to the rain simply dump on the house. for 25 minutes straight, I tried to sleep but the rain was so loud and I knew that it wasn't going to be pretty. I knew that if it rained like it was for much longer, we'd have to start sandbagging or using the shopvac to remove the water as fast as we could. I got out of bed and checked the water level. It was less than a 1/4 inch from flowing over the threshold of the door. I came upstairs to wait. And didn't wait more than 3-4 minutes, and the rains immediately stopped. Simply amazing. The Lord knew that it was going to stop. What a comfort! After that downpour I went back to sleep and didn't wake up again until morning...

We have a friend that wasn't so lucky. She checked on the sump pump at 4:30am on Thursday morning when the main downpour started. She watched it for 30 minutes to make sure it was working properly. At 7am she returned to a fully flooded basement... one that had just been refinished most recently from a flood 8 months ago. The walls had been painted, new furniture, cabinets and countertops installed. A beautiful place for a family to enjoy. Was now underwater. If you think of it, please pray for this family.