Unlike all too many of our fellow New Jerseyans, we were relatively unscathed by Ida. We had several moments of worry as we listened to the report of a possible tornado heading up the road towards us, but it evaporated about 8 miles south of town. Other than that all we had was a bit of water in one area of the basement.
The water in the basement was a bit surprising. After Irene in 2011, when we lost the carpeting, some furniture, and other ‘stuff’ that had been on the floor, I did some serious re-organizing down there. Anything that can be up on blocks is up on 2″ blocks. Anything that can be stored in plastic bins is stored in plastic bins. I try to be mindful of ‘flooding floor’ whenever I move anything to the basement. If it’s not waterproof, it needs to be up. The exceptions of course are all the major appliances down there: washer, dryer, refrigerator, treadmill. There are so many underground streams here that I know that I’ll never banish completely the threat of water inside.
When I went to check on the basement Wednesday night, and found the water, I noticed I’d gotten careless and there were non-waterproof items directly on the floor. I picked them up and checked the other parts of the basement. We have French drains in the basement AND a sump pump. After Irene we also have a generator to keep the sump pump going should the power fail. I’m not sure why we got water this time. Either the pump couldn’t keep up (we got 8 inches of rain) or there is a weak spot over there, but I won’t know until I go down there and start moving everything out of that corner. Nothing there should have any damage – all on blocks or in plastic or is waterproof itself. I’ve had 3 fans going down there since Wednesday night. I’ll need to schedule some time to do major furniture movement and disinfecting the floor.
I count myself extremely fortunate, however. My next-door neighbors had standing water in their basement. I saw they had plastic floor tiles out drying in the sun yesterday. Some of my neighbors made poor choices while driving Wednesday night. NEVER go through standing water ESPECIALLY when the water is on a bridge that spans a brook. People all over town reported flooded basements and damaged property. We were spared the tornadoes that ripped up other parts of the state. There was a sink hole at the apartments on the far side of the railroad tracks. I believe that many many years ago there was a pond there. Back in the spring I was caught in a major thunderstorm. The water pouring down that hill and across the road was intimidating. A sink hole opening up at the top of that hill does not surprise me.
The climate is changing and I’ll need to revisit my precautions. But all in all, a few road closures, some damp items, some flooded flower pots, are minor inconveniences. My friend Honour posted about the “roar” of the fish in the river. Here I share the roar of the river itself.
Ahuva's Blog 
Ohmygosh that is all just crazy!!!! Especially the sink hole. Sure glad you made it through with only minor annoyances.
Wow, crazy pictures! Glad you were relatively unscathed. Up here in Upper Westchester we just got some rain and a little wind; the only personal impact on me was that I had to take the Harlem Line into Manhattan yesterday because the Hudson line was still blocked by like giant mudslides. We were lucky!
Yes, we were both lucky. My good friend who lives 3 blocks away, but next to the brook, had major damage. Of course the basement flooded (next to the brook, always floods) but she had 30+ inches of water on the first floor as well. That’s up to the 4th step or so of the steps going to the 2nd floor. that is the kitchen, the living room, the dining room, the family room, the screened in porch – all of it with 30″ standing water.