Well, I guess you may be wondering how the lion did.

[lionkingcmsl]

The answer is, not too well.

It seems Irene thought it would be nice if I had an indoor swimming pool. :={

I had about 12 inches of water in my basement. Those that have been to my den know that half of my basement is finished.

I lost some things, but it was not as bad as it could've been. I heard that someone lost everything that was in their basement. I have lost 2 sofas and an easy chair. Possibly two speakers, depends on what the woofers are made of, and I could replace them. The carpeting is a total loss as is an Atari 400 game system. My biggest concern is how VHS tapes handle water. I have some home VHS tapes as well as some collector tapes that were submerged. There are also book that got dunked, but possibly they can be salvaged.

Now a lot of you may be saying. "Wait! What about your trains?"
I had engines on the bottom shelf of two different racks. UT and I did a a quick rescue mission of them. While I have not checked the older AHM and Life-Like motive power, the "good stuff" Bachmann and Proto 2000 series seems to have survived the dunking fairly well with only some rusting of steel parts.

There is a fair amount of clean up and sorting to do.

While I'm not a happy lion, I understand it could've been much, much worse.

Comments

[aj-hyena.livejournal.com]

Here a transformer went boom amid the medium wind and sheets of rain --- I think we got off -lucky-, given the surrounding lands. Only 3 buildings here lost power, so we're a tiny tiny pocket of "extremely low priority." They -say- Sept 1 (been out of power since sunday)... but I don't buy it for an instant. I expect Sept 15th or so. Not fun when this upcoming weekend all internet places are closed (I am currently without power -and- phone since the latter runs through the modem -- if one goes, it both goes)

[avenginglioness.livejournal.com]

I am glad YOU are okay, even though your stuff isn't. I am sorry about your loss of stuff. I know how much it sucks. :(

[tilt-longtail.livejournal.com]

well. yeah...coulda been worse.... i was worried about you guys

[sci.livejournal.com]

I should expect the VHS tapes and most of the electronics (provided they weren't powered at the time of getting submerged) will be fine if rinsed well with deionised water to get the dirt out, then left to dry completely.

[mejeep.livejournal.com]

ferret *whimpers* at the good stuff that was lost & damaged. I guess u-tiger used the pool pump to the basement since it's downhill and strong enough for the job? But you need electricity for that.

The science museums at Camp Evans did mostly okay but the basement flooded thanks to NO POWER to the pumps :-(

was thinking about you...

[mammallamadevil.livejournal.com]

so thanks for the update.

MLD

[skipai.livejournal.com]

Sorry about all that. I had lost VHS tapes due to flooding in the last flat I had been in. (They were unsalvable, stuck together) Hoping for better luck with yours though.

[kamau-d-lyon.livejournal.com]

Certainly not good news and any damage taken hurts. Still we all need to keep in perspective how bad some others have gotten hit. Within 20 minutes of me bridges are gone. Within an hour of me houses have been condemned do to flood damage and mud slides. Within two hours there's a town totally wiped out.

I certainly am sorry to hear you lost some items, some that were irreplaceable, and I do wish I could help. But in this mess there were so many others that lost everything I think we all can give thanks it wasn't worse for us.

[hallan.livejournal.com]

I'm glad that you made it through okay. You would have been very much missed.

[hossblacksilver.livejournal.com]

Seconded!

[shockwave77598.livejournal.com]

Get some floral dessicant from any hobby store. wrap the tape in paper towel (one layer) to keep it clean. Put the wrapped tape and dessicant in a large freezer bag and put in a warm (not hot) place (not in direct sunlight). Allow one month to pull all the water out of the tape.

We used to have to do this for 16 track tapes; 3M made a binder that absorbed water and turned to glue, making impossible to replace tapes worthless. We took them and put them in turkey cookers at very low power (used a dimmer) and dessicated the crap out of them for a month. Worked fine after that.

[smrgol-t-kirin.livejournal.com]

Just make sure you air out the basement well, leaving it damp will promote mold - and you don't need that on top of everything else.

Get fans going, get the wet stuff out ASAP, open the windows etc.

You may be able to save the furniture if you can get it outside in the sun for a while.

[hossblacksilver.livejournal.com]

Sorry to hear about the loses you had, I'm glad that it wasn't worse though.

hi

[bollinger1.livejournal.com]

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