Steven Helmer Publications

We had some pretty nasty weather go through the area yesterday, heavy storms and even some tornadoes. As a result of this, we had a small lake in our back yard yesterday evening. But, today, I'm feeling thankful because that was pretty much the worst of it for us. The worst part of the storm went north of us and caused quite a bit of damage to some communities about 20 minutes away. So, as I keep them in my prayers, I'm glad we came out of all of this a bit wet but mostly unscathed.

Long story short, the building landlord was soaking a vent cover in the utility room sink and thought he turned the faucet off before going to lunch. As it turns out, the faucet, for some weird reason, turns differently than most faucets and, instead of being off, it was opened wide. There was a hose attached and, since the other end was emerged in the water, he didn't notice the water wasn't turned off. As a result of all of this, I got up from my desk to use the rest room about 11:30 yesterday and noticed water seeping into the office. Upon further investigation, I discovered the entire basement of the office building was flooded. By the time we figured out what was going on and got the water turned off, I had a good half inch of water standing by my desk and water had gotten into every room. Surprisingly, despite being right next door to the utility room, this office wasn't the one that got hit the worst. The office on the other side of us happens to be on the bottom...

This is what happens when you get a lot of rain while the ground is still frozen. With the exception of a small strip up by the house, my entire back yard is currently a frozen lake. Hopefully, the yard itself will bounce back. I am, however, concerned about the stuff in my shed since I'm sure some of that is currently under water.

We've had quite a bit of rain dumped down on us since yesterday evening and, since the ground is still frozen, there really isn't any place for it to go. As a result, I'm getting a fairly deep puddle of water where my back yard used to be. On the bright side, I don't have a basement so I don't have to worry about water in that. However, I am a little concerned about my mower and everything else in my shed since the water is right up to the door of that.