Mr. Rawles,
Once again, thank you for your research and SurvivalBlog posts. I have been a [10 Cent Challenge] contributor for a couple of years and have gotten more than my money’s worth. Thank you.
Last night my group and I met at my home. Here in New Hampshire we received a record amount of snow fall this year. (Over 108 inches!) That is the fourth largest every recorded. Yesterday it was warmer then normal there for a lot of snow melt. Last night it rained. As the group was getting ready to head to the range for night shooting I went to my basement to get my ammo. I found 18 to 24″ of water down there. All the water was running in off the roadway and into my basement.
Thank you for your writings. [Because of advice in SurvivalBlog] everything was in Mylar bags in five gallon buckets, floating. I went to turn on my submersible pump that I have not had to use for years and it did not work. I started bailing with buckets. We attempted to get a siphon going with out success. My son went to Home Depot–one of the few stores still open–and was able to rent a large 2″ diameter pump. That emptied the basement in about two hours.
The hot water heater was damaged. I had sand bags that we used in the basement to keep the water in one area once it started to rain again. It was like a water fall coming in the basement at time. The sand bags worked great creating a pool in that area for the pump to work. We dug a trench out side in the driveway to get the water to go into the back yard. Using spades, shovels and axes that we had on hand. We dug out the culvert that that the highway department should have kept opened and that I should have kept checking. Once that was open it stopped raining but it should keep the water out with everything else we did.
One of the members of our group is a tech for a propane company and he was able to get the hot water heater up and going with the tools and supplies we had on hand. He was able to make sure the furnace was going well.
A couple of lessons: You need good people that you can trust. We were going over our bug out plans and storage plans for the retreat prior to heading to the range. You have to plan for the future but live in the here and now.
We have different people with different skills. Once is a propane tech, one is a mechanic, one an administrator, one good in first aid and one security – defensive person. All of them have various skills that are needed. I had a stash of cash on hand to purchase or rent the pump and anything else needed last night.
Having a good working pump would have been invaluable. I have a stream that flows all year long in my yard and I could even use a good pump for fire control if needed. That will be on the list now.
I once again thank the Lord for his providence. – New Hampshire Hillbilly