Jeanne Ryan’s New Appreciation For The Term “Flash Flood” In Duluth Rain Storm

Like many Twin Ports residents we had a flooded basement because of the storm, but our basement flooded because of our garage. In the 6 years that we have lived in our house, we have never even had a drop of water in our basement. (Knock on wood) But, we also have not been there with 9 inches of rain all falling at once.

Here is my story of how I realized a new appreciation for what the term "Flash Floods" actually means. Tuesday night I was huddled up with the kids watching T.V. as they griped about the continued annoyance of the EAS tests being sent about the Flash Flood warnings.

Like any parent trying to ease their fears I kept saying, "No that is not for us, it never floods in Duluth." Yes eating my words as we speak. We all settled in for the night, as I was alerted to the fact that water was coming into the house from under the door to our garage. Time noted 1:10 am Wednesday morning.

I opened the door into the  garage to see ankle deep water everywhere and my shoes that I use to cut the grass floating past me. The drain in  our floor was clogged with leaves and the water started to raise. For about the next 2 hours I feverishly was trying to unclog the drain. It worked, but our hallway and our room the boys sleep in was soaked.

The garage flooded again Wednesday morning, but I was able to get the water down. All in all, we feel very lucky, some wet carpeting and a few pictures that I had to throw away. They say that life is full of lessons and we learned as a family to pitch in and help each other through a scary time.

Our neighbors all seemed to gather yesterday, as we exchanged stories and offered a helping hand to each other, including a shop vac I borrowed from our new neighbor next door.  It makes you feel like how things used to be when people looked out for each other, which I am happy to report still exists in the Northland.