On 24 July, 2017 Elm Run jumped it's banks and flooded our neighborhood of Woodsdale here in Wheeling.
Our entire yard was under water and there was a small river going down one side of the house. The force of the current was so strong I could barely keep my footing.
I tried to find places where I could do some good but the amount of water and the fact it was dark made this impossible.
I checked the basement and it was taking on water. Nothing I could do about it. I went to bed and hoped for the best.
This morning we awoke to the aftermath. The entire yard had several inches of fine mud covering it. There were deposits in some places up to a foot deep. Some areas were scoured and soil was lost.
We got lucky with the basement. Only a small amount of mud was deposited. But the steps and corridor to the basement via the bulkhead hatch have several inches of mud covering them. I have opened the hatch in the hopes of drying it out a bit. Right now the mud like heavy syrup. Fortunately the threshold seal is tight and is keeping it out of the basement.
While I cleaned up the front of the house as best I could Betsy worked on cleaning the basement.
Since it is just me working outside it is going to take weeks to clean things up. And it will be impossible to the completely remove the mix of mud and wood chips that have covered all the grass.
There is also lots of wood debris as well as trash all over the yard. Quite the mess.
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There was mud covering the second step which is about 16" of the ground.
I had just replace the bulkhead hatch with fairly tight fitting peice of 5/8 plywood. Had it not been for that it is hard to tell how much material would have ened up in the basement.
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Under all the trash, debris and mud is the walkway to the garage.
There mud is over a foot deep in spots.
Overall we got off easy. But it will take a significant effort to clean things up and I am not sure yet what to do about the grass covered part of the yard which is now covered with a conglomerte of mud, wood chips, and other debris.
Torrential Rains Cause Flash Flooding