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To all our friends on the east coast that are in the path of Hurricane Irene  please be safe.

Thanks Pat,
   I just retired from the Marine Corps out of Cherry Point, NC, which is 20 miles away from Morehead City/Atlantic Beach, NC.  Most of my inlaws and my youngest daughter still live there.  Odd to see the pictures of the place I just left and the damage done there.  Been thru many a hurricane and typhoon over the years during my career.  They will recover, but will take a little time.  My family faired well though with minimal damage.  Daughter took off with a couple of friends and headed to Raleigh, so they were fairly safe.  Pretty crazy storm, that's for sure!!!  Hope everyone else that are either located in the path or had family there made it thru safely.

Regards,
Ken

Wow.. we made it.. Ended up loosing power for about 12hrs... Was saved by my battery backup sump pump. hardly ever stopped running all day. I had 7 1/2 inches of extra water in my pool. My neighbor lost a huge Oak tree, but no house damage. Our town had trees and powerlines down.

Glad to hear all faired the storm well.  Sad to say, others did not... :down:

Good to hear Ken....I was thinking about all you guys.
Others faired as well I guess....

We lost power for 25 hours.  It went out at 2:30am Sunday and came on at 3:30am today.  Thankfully, I have a generator.  On the drive to work this morning, there are MASSIVE power outages (shopping centers, schools, etc. - all out).  I had to take a few detours, and I was on one stretch of road for about 10 miles.  It has many lights (it's one of the main "local" roads around here), but only 1 worked.  Many side streets are closed.  My road had a tree across it and we lost 2 trees.  Thankfully, they didn't hit the house.

I am VERY tired, but that can be easily fixed.  My prayers to all those still without power.  Thanks to all for their concern and kindness.  It's been a tough weekend.

  I faired well during the beginnning of the storm, but sadly, around midnight, our 3 sump pumps failed. Unfortunately we wound up with close to a foot of water into a finished basement. 2 of the kids bedrooms were down there. it turned out that the sumps kept tripping the breaker because they were pulling just under 30 amps between the 3 pumps, and guess what? They were all on the same 15 amp line. My landlords answer to this, throw as 60 amp breaker in the the box and just use one side to cover the thirty amps. He was actually pissed at me because this had never happened before, and we told him that the pumps probably weren't pumping for about 20 minutes before we realized it. Needless to say things didn't get any nicer after that. I asked if he expected for one of us to sleep in the laundry room to monitor the pumps. And if he had a liscensed electrician instill the pumps and the line they were on. Then Sunday I insisted the 60 amp breaker be pulled out of the panel before the whole house burns down, and I asked if the guy who swapped it out is an electrician or if he was the same guy who put all 3 sumps on 1 line. Then i mentioned that they had put myself and families safety at risk by doing such a risky move. If 1 pump seized it would have burnt the house down, because the breaker wouldn't trip. 2 or the sumps pump the water out to the street, 1 of them dumps the water right at the foundation so it can run right back in again. One drain line had enough sand come out of it to fill atleast 3 5gal buckets, so I suspect there may wind up being some foundation issues in the future.
  I had to move all our stuff and all the kids bedroom furniture and beds up the stairs and into either the garage or my trailer. And also throw out everything we lost because of the water damage. The landlord tore out all the carpet and padding, revealing only the 2x2 interlocking floor panels, the kind that are chep board on top, and have plastic on the bottom with little cleats. We have 4 fans and 2 dehumidifiers going, to try and dry it out. We hope it wil dry out by next weekend, then they will have new carpet installed. My concern is that is that flooring not taken out, there will absolutely be hidden areas of mold and mildew that will develop, and the kids will start getting sick in a few months.
  Oh, and I forgot. The central-air died on thursday, he hopes to have a new unit installed by next tuesday, as he's been shopping for the best deal he could find.
  I really thought that renting would be less stressful than owning a home. Boy was I wrong.
Needless to say, the hunt for finding another home is on. I really would like to be out of this one before the Chicago Show in November.
 
   Sorry 'bout the rant, just getting it off my chest.
  So, the hunt is on again for a new place to live.
 
TFJ
 

Water and basements just are two things that don't get along...
never a fun thing.
Hope it all works out ok for you guys!

Wow Tom.. that sucks.. Sorry to hear about the mess. You just can't seem to get a break.

On the bright side, that flooring is designed to get wet and not absorb water. The fans should hopefully move enough air to dry the flooring out. I would make sure there are a few dehumidifiers running down there also to help dry out quickly.

Whoa, that's awful.  Get out of that place quickly!  No drain should dump water near the foundation unless you are assured it will run away from it.  If it goes back down the walls, the weeping system is designed to pick it up.  However, if you have blocked drains (and from your description, you do), it's going to come in the house.  I'd also look at the electrical panel closely to see what else the guy might have done "under the radar."

 He should really have a back up sump also. A battery powered or one that is powered by your water pressure. It's a good time to buy a house. So all is not bad. You'll get in near the bottom of the market.

Battery powered sump pump is one of the best investments I made at my house!!