Randy's Winding Road BLOG

Flood Recovery - Cedar River Flood 2009 - Post 5 - Wrapping Up

It's October, and we are wrapping up repairs from the January flooding. Some of the wrap-around decks were damaged when the flood water floated the decks, lifting them off of the supports.

Deck Replacement

The decking was not covered by the insurance, so it was not included in the repairs completed earlier in the year.

This was mostly an original deck, primarily consisting of 2X6 fir. After looking at all of the materials available, we chose cedar, and I'm glad we did. I had the carpenters remove the old nails, and we recycled most of the old wood. Meanwhile, the new cedar looks good.

New Cedar Decking

When we returned from vacation in Hawaii to our flooded home, it was a battle for survival. We hired a company to handle the restoration of our house, and moved everything out of the flooded first floor into storage in one day. The restoration process began, and we spent months living on the second floor.

Moving Out in January 09

Photos:

 

Our endless summer is coming to an end, and local governments, businesses, and residents in the Renton area are racing to build barriers to protect property along the Green River, which flows through the Kent valley through Auburn,Kent and Renton.

http://www.kirotv.com/news/21256216/detail.html and http://www.pnwlocalnews.com/south_king/ren/news/63774177.html

I'm hoping these preparations will not be tested this Winter.

 

Cedar River 2009 FLOOD - post 4 - Life in the Flood Lane

Welcome to the RATSNEST

 
This photo shows the bedroom before there was some semblance of order.

The master bedroom was destined to becomethe RATSNEST. A command center and refuge for the duration. Everything from the first floor, is now either in the restoration company warehouse for temporary storage, in the garage, or in the two bedrooms on the second floor.

I had the cable company add a second Internet line serving the second floor, and found the old router (the new one was not working).

Space is limited. We have one chair. Two computers, two keyboards and "meece" and a monitor and printer share the cart in the picture. It can be a bit confusing to sit down and get the wrong keyboard or mouse. Working this recovery process, however, would be a lot more difficult without the computers and Internet access.

As you can see if you check out my posts from Twitter, I am using Twitter to log progress on our flood recovery on a daily basis. I also have access to my email on my Blackberry, which allows me to reply or call in response to questions or to provide information.

Life in the Flood Lane here along the Cedar River - February 2009... more to come

Bear Market Links to Live Gold Prices etc.

When we slip over the edge of the Abyss, will we know?

Live Gold Price

Live Energy Prices

Wheat Prices

ALOHA!

 

To my friends and co-workers who are moving on this week:

Mahalo, for your help, patience, cooperation, collaboration, effort, and friendship over the years.

Stop by now and then and talk story.

Aloha

In my humble opinion, layoffs suck.

A post from Twitter a fee minutes ago I will pass along.

Cedar River 2009 FLOOD - post 3 - Moving Out

The Cedar Riveris located in Western Washington. The watershed is high in the Cascade Mountains. The reservoir that feeds the river is a source for Seattle drinking water. The Cedar River flooded during a major storm in early January, 2009.

I called the flood insurance company and filed a claim, and Susan called a phone number that had been published to report flood damage, and got a list of contractors to call. Later that day we made a decision to go with a contractor to handle all of the cleanup, demolition and restoration work required. We would need to move everything out of the first floor of the house and the garage ASAP, and they would begin removing sheet-rock and flooring, cabinets, etc.

The insurance adjuster arrived the next day and toured the property taking photos and notes.

It's not easy to move everything out of a house like this in an afternoon, but that's what happened. Everything that was touched by the floodwater would be removed, cleaned, discarded, or replaced.

 

You can see the mud left by the river water onthe garage floor in the photo to the left. The water was about 9 inches high in this area of the garage. The freezer, washer and dryer will have to be replaced. Electrical appliances like these are impossible to clean, and are thrown away.

Like many families, we had a lot of "stuff" in the garage (lawn mower, wood, photo albums, video tapes, tools).

 

The kitchen pantry must have taken 6 boxes, and I don't know how many boxes of dishes and bowls and trays and glassware were in the buffet.

Of course we forgot to keep some silverware, bowls, knives, etc.

I scrounged a can opener that I had at work, and a Costo sized box of plastic knives, forks and spoons, and paper plates I had in the barbecue supplies.

 

The kitchen was taken apart like a big puzzle.

Once everything was removed, the demolition began. Two feet of drywall and insulation were removed, and the flooring was removed.

  Large fans and dehumidifiers were placed throughout the house to remove moisture.

   

Our living area is now the bathroom, and two bedrooms on the second floor.

My RATSNEST

Oh, and the Kitchen >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>!

Life in the floodlane.

more to come ....

Canary in the coal mine? - Bad news out of Dubai!

Like we haven't got enough to worry about these days with Dr. Doom talking economic collapse, our government printing money like there is no tomorrow, and now there's a N. Y. Times article on the Huffington Post by Robert F. Worth about foreign workers "streaming" out of Dubai.

This could be the proverbial edge of the precipice!

Scary stuff. Streaming foreigners, abandoned cars....

Is Dubai's economy really in a free fall?

Cedar River 2009 Flood - Post 2 ... "Homecoming"

We left Hawaii on Saturday January 10th in the afternoon. It's always a scramble to get into the line at the Honolulu airport for the agricultural inspection, open the bag so the inspector can see what goodies my wife is sending home, and then wait to checkin the luggage, etc. We arrived in Seattle around 11:00 PM, and made it to the house sometime after midnight.

By then the river was pretty much back in it's banks. There was a light coating of mud on the driveway, and some on the decks. Inside the house, the area rugs were wet, and there was mud around in the corners. From the high water mark outside the main enterance, you could see that the water had just gotten a bit above the threshold.

My Son's car was parked in front of the garage. It had several inches of water standing on the floorboards. It started, but sounded like a boat as water was pumped out the tailpipe. I gave them a ride home and returned to move as much of the carpeting as I could out of the house and onto the decks.

Some of the lower lawn was still covered with water, and I could see a thick layer of sand on much of the lawn. By 3 AM I had moved the furniture off of the rugs, and had all but one heavy wool rug off of the maple floors.

 

More to come...

Cedar River 2009 FLOOD - post 1

 The Cedar River is located in Western Washington. The watershed is high in the Cascade Mountains. The reservoir that feeds the river is a source for Seattle drinking water. It flooded in a major storm that swept through the area in early January, 2009.

 

January can be a perfect time to visit Hawaii. We were renting a townhouse in the Ko Olina resort during the first part of January, enjoying the perfect temperatures (in the 80's) and all that Hawaii has to offer. When my friend, Alice, (who was house sitting and taking care of the cat and the dog) first emailed me about the river rising, I took a look at the King County website, and the data from the gages at Landsburg and Renton.

Normally, when the river is rising I can judge roughly how high the water is and watch the upstream flow to see what's going on up river. Another day in the sun, some shave ice and poki and the river was up over the bank on the lower portion of the lawn that's upriver. This is fairly common. The river bed is shallow there, and the bank is quite a bit lower than it is directly in front of the house.

Alice and I talked by phone and I suggested putting a rock at the edge of the water to judge whether the water was rising, and how fast.

When I next checked the web sites, I could see the water in the reservoir upriver was rising, and the same was true for Landsburg and Renton. By this time a number of rivers in western Washington had already flooded, and the news reports that I could find on the Internet were full of viewer submitted photos of the flooding.

Our next conversation was late on the evening of the 8th of January, and the water was high enough that Alice had to wade to her car on the street.

Another friend from work, Chris,  called me the next day after driving by and taking pictures, and I learned the water was up above the level of the decks that wrap around much of the first floor of the house. As it turned out, these photos were taken near the peak flow.

 

 
The water is just over the road, and just above the level of the first floor of the house which is on the left.

 

 

This shows the water covering the wrap-around deck and the area between the garage and the house.

 

 

This view is Southeast. The end of the fence in this shot is the bank of the river.

to be continued....