Cup O’ Joe: The Great Flood

“We could use the rain,” is a phrase that is not likely to be uttered from the mouths of many for the next few weeks as torrential rains lasting for days on end rocked southern Aroostook and northern Penobscot and Washington counties last week.
    Somewhere between 4-10 inches of rain fell in the various communities this past week.  Numerous roads suffered severe damage as they washed out. Both the Maine and Federal Emergency Management Agencies were contacted to see if they could offer assistance. Patten Town Manager Terri Conklin estimated the damage between $300,000-$500,000 and that figure does not cover any harm done to personal property. Similar stories were told in Amity and Cary.
The deluge affected numerous brooks, rivers and streams in the area. Driving trips around town to check out the water level became the popular pastime for many. Few things seem to piqué the interest of people more than nature’s wrath. Besides, what else was there to do but drive around and look at how the normally calm bodies of water had turned into roaring waterways?
Water in the basement was an unpleasant, but all too common occurrence for many people this past week, myself included. Ever since moving into our home, I have had a vision of what I would like our basement to become. Perhaps I should stop watching the show “Man Caves” on the DIY channel. It’s probably a good thing that we hadn’t invested large sums of money turning the basement into a football/video game den, because it likely would have been ruined after this past week’s floods.
Getting a small amount of water in our basement has been somewhat of a regular occurrence whenever a fast moving storm passes by. It’s probably because our drive slopes downward to the backyard, allowing water to follow the path of least resistance down the pavement and around the house forming a pool of water outside our basement door.
Under normal circumstances, a small amount of water tends to seep in under the doorway, but is usually something that can be contained, and cleared, rather quickly. Last week’s storm proved a bit different. After several straight days of heavy downpours, the normal small puddle of water outside our door turned into an ankle deep pool, which then flowed into the basement.
By Wednesday, the ground had become so saturated that water started seeping up through the concrete foundation from both the front and the back of the house. Fortunately, we have been rather slow at unpacking items since moving back to Houlton and still have a great many items in plastic containers. That turned into a blessing as water slowly trickled past the wall of totes.
My feelings of despair for my basement woes, however, quickly disappeared after hearing horror stories from others in the area. Many folks who never get water found their basements flooding, ruining boxes of photographs and carpets and also causing extensive damage to furnaces and hot water heaters. Many individuals also learned that their homeowners’ insurance did not cover flood damage unless they had flood insurance added to their policy.
One of our family friends had recently spent $5,000 remodeling their basement, having believed they had “flood proofed” their home through numerous upgrades. Sadly, they were mistaken and all of their work was ruined in just a few short days. So I guess my inconvenience of pulling area rugs and moving items away from the flow of water pales in comparison.
Joseph Cyr is a staff writer for the Houlton Pioneer Times. He can be reached at pioneertimes@nepublish.com or 532-2281.