After spending the day in Mankato with mom, followed by a lovely dinner in St. Peter with her and dad, I returned to a very rainy Owatonna around 8pm. There was a small stream of water leading to the drain in our back yard - really nothing unusual and no reason to be alarmed. As I was brushing my teeth and anticipating a great night's sleep, I decided to take a final peek out the window. It was apparant that moments early, the drain decided to stop acting like a drain... UH OH. Within 15 minutes we had Lake Nokomis in our back yard, minus the pretty scenery and jogging path.
After reviewing the predicament -- phone calls were quickly placed to mom/dad, our neighbors, and Natalie up the street -- I called the police dept and spoke to a surprisingly pleasant dispatcher (who was no doubt being bomarded with calls). She said utility crews had been dispatched and the "EOC" was being opened. If anyone can define EOC, leave me a note and I'll send you $5.
Anyway, it wasn't long before the front yard and street looked just like it did 6 weeks ago during the Flood of the Century. Our sump pump was working like a good sump pump should and was able to keep up with the demands. Whew!
We're lucky to have good neighbors who were all looking out for each other. I was a bit lonely (okay, and very stressed) without my husband, and it helped to know that others were keeping an eye on things along our street.
Some women who live a couple of streets over called the mayor and the city council guy from our ward late last night...the response they got?? Mr. Mayor and Mr. Councilman came over to help them empty out their basements. You can rest assured that the next time it sprinkles here, I'm calling the city engineer.
The good news is we stayed dry - woooo hooooo!
To further brighten the mood of this post, here's Hannah:
2 comments:
It's clear to me that Hannah doesn't give a fig about your water problems, Annie. She's only interested in making a fashion statement and being cute. Come to think of it, she's too young to worry about flooding. She should keep her mind on not making her mommy and daddy get up in the middle of the night to play.
What a relief that there was an end to the rain last night before the water came any closer!
EOC = Emergency Operations Center (or some such variation). Send the cash to Richfield ASAP.
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