It wasn't the sound I expected to hear when I opened my front door upon returning from an airport run Wednesday morning. It sounded like rushing water, and to my astonishment and horror that water was running down my stairs, trickling down my walls, and dripping through my light fixtures on the ceiling. I was stunned and could do little more than exclaim,"Oh no! Oh no! Oh no!" while my husband raced up the stairs ahead of me.
What we encountered upon reaching the second floor was that Owen's room had literally become a lake; the water reached to my ankles and flowed into the girls' bedroom as well. Unfortunately, after 24 hours without water the company had finally restored it while we were gone and the faucet in Owen's bathroom had accidentally been left open.
Faced with this crisis, we went into emergency mode and I ran to the neighbor's house to ask for a wet vac. Silly me, this is Iquique (where it never rains and flooding is normally not a problem in someone's house.) I returned without a wet vac but with two men in tow who immediately went to work mopping up the first floor, soaking towels then wringing them out and doing it all over again. Meanwhile Pedro scooped buckets upon buckets of water off the bedroom floor upstairs, as I tried unsuccessfully to call everyone I knew to ask about locating the elusive wet vac.
One friend gave me the number of a carpet cleaning company, but their wet vac was undergoing repairs. The yellow pages yielded no better luck. Just then my neighbor Maggie saved the day by tracking down her friend who did have one and was willing to loan it to us. Needless to say, hours were spent in emptying closets, setting out papers to dry, and soaking up gallons of water!
But praise God, the carpets seem to have been salvaged and I give all the credit to my husband for his tireless efforts. Currently we are having a five-person slumber party in our bedroom on the third floor, which is rather interesting but the kids think it is great fun.
We live next to the ocean in the driest desert in the world. (An oxymoron, I know. But true.) As a result of this interesting phenomenon, water can sometimes become a matter of significant discussion and occasional frustration. Any prior water woes, however, will be forever drowned (pun very much intended) in the memory of this week's misadventure!
What we encountered upon reaching the second floor was that Owen's room had literally become a lake; the water reached to my ankles and flowed into the girls' bedroom as well. Unfortunately, after 24 hours without water the company had finally restored it while we were gone and the faucet in Owen's bathroom had accidentally been left open.
Faced with this crisis, we went into emergency mode and I ran to the neighbor's house to ask for a wet vac. Silly me, this is Iquique (where it never rains and flooding is normally not a problem in someone's house.) I returned without a wet vac but with two men in tow who immediately went to work mopping up the first floor, soaking towels then wringing them out and doing it all over again. Meanwhile Pedro scooped buckets upon buckets of water off the bedroom floor upstairs, as I tried unsuccessfully to call everyone I knew to ask about locating the elusive wet vac.
One friend gave me the number of a carpet cleaning company, but their wet vac was undergoing repairs. The yellow pages yielded no better luck. Just then my neighbor Maggie saved the day by tracking down her friend who did have one and was willing to loan it to us. Needless to say, hours were spent in emptying closets, setting out papers to dry, and soaking up gallons of water!
But praise God, the carpets seem to have been salvaged and I give all the credit to my husband for his tireless efforts. Currently we are having a five-person slumber party in our bedroom on the third floor, which is rather interesting but the kids think it is great fun.
We live next to the ocean in the driest desert in the world. (An oxymoron, I know. But true.) As a result of this interesting phenomenon, water can sometimes become a matter of significant discussion and occasional frustration. Any prior water woes, however, will be forever drowned (pun very much intended) in the memory of this week's misadventure!
2 comments:
Yikes! What a week! Praying for the house to quickly dry out.
Oh man Steph! We've had bathrooms flooded before, but nothing like that! Glad your carpet seems to be okay.
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