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Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Chapter 162...Crazy Storm Damage


We had crazy weather last friday.  First the winds came, then the downpours and then hail.  It wouldn't have been so bad if all that rain came in a 24 hour period but we got it all in about 2 hours.  Almost everyone locally had some kind of water damage.


The night of the storm.

The rain was pouring down the valley across from our house and it looks like a muddy river:



Hail that turned into ice chunks.  We had ice chunks on the lawn on Saturday morning...in July:



This storm was fast and furious.  Mike and I turned on the cameras to watch behind the house.  Our curbs turned out to be the best thing we ever could have done for a massive downpour.  Instead of the water going into and over the sides of our house the curbs diverted it around the house and down the side driveway:)

Saturday morning Mike and I drive down the driveway to assess the damage.


Our rocks saved the ditch but a lot of them got swept away and into the culverts:



Our ditch line.  Lots of rocks got moved:


We will have to re stack them in the ditch and up the side of the bank:



Mike standing on the back side of our pond.  Here is one instance where it paid not to mow.  The water flooded, flattened the tall grass and went over our pond wall:



The force of the water was so strong that it moved a few of our boulders on the back of the pond wall:




And the uglies.  The last part of our driveway is still gravel.  From the barn down to the first culvert the road got washed out:



That isn't as bad as this next shot.  It looks like a crater...where did all the dirt and gravel go?:




It even cleared out beneath the road to our underground electric pipe:



Mike figuring out how to attack this problem:


We will have to fill in the hole to stabilize it and then add more gravel on top.  On a good note, if you can call it that, lol, we have a lot of rock that got washed down into an open field.



This field was clear of almost all rock before this storm:


That's a lot of rock:



Mike and I take the tractor into the field and start filling up the bucket with rock:



Mike drives it down to our "crater" and dumps it in:



After about 6 loads it seems like we haven't made a dent so Mike decides to sacrifice one of his favorite boulders:



It's in the ground and protecting the culvert:




We are starting to get it all filled:




Another load going in:



After ten loads of rock dumped into the hole, Mike packs it down with the tractor:




Mike got it all cleaned up and more gravel spread on top of the hole.  We will eventually need more gravel but for now we can drive over it:



On to our next problem.  The water flowed so hard and fast out of the mountains that it went under our driveway and broke a couple of sections:







Time to fix it.  We planned on prying up the pavement and fill it up underneath.  Unfortunately it looks like a job that is too big for Mike and I.



Instead of that we start digging a small ditch along side the driveway where the water overflowed.


Mike starts to dig and adds the extra dirt along our curbs:



Digging some more.  The first section has a spring that we caught and that water is going into a culvert and under our driveway and out to the pond:




The first 25 feet is done.  We will do a little each morning because it is brutally hot outside:




The next morning I work on the next 25 feet:



Looking better:





We have just a little more left:




Today we went down and finished it up.  Mike used the 4-wheeler to pack down the edges.  We may have some finishing work to do but we finished about a 70 foot ditch to catch excess water.  It now runs along the side of the driveway and into a culvert that takes the water to the pond:





You can never know what damage will happen from a storm.  Even when you try to prepare you can just never know what the outcome will be.  Mother Nature should always be taken seriously.


I hope you enjoyed this story and I will write again soon.  We will be working here in the mornings and at the store later in the day when it cools down.

Have a great week.

10 comments:

  1. WOW--can't believe all the damage!

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    1. It happens. I guess it was our turn. I'm just glad the house is OK:)

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  2. With so much of your house in the earth, was it in danger from too much water?

    Kathy B

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    1. I know the curbing around our parking area saved the house. The water came pouring down the back hill, went down the driveway and onto our back parking area. The water that was on the back parking area moved around the house because of the curbs:)

      We do have French drains on the house but if we didn't have the curbs I think our side hills along the house would have had huge ruts and crevices. The house would be OK but our berms would have had damage.

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  3. Never underestimate the power of Mother Nature. DANG!! That is evidence of some SERIOUS hydro-power right there, let me tell ya!! Moving those boulders!!! YIKES!!

    It's a good thing y'all had the foresight to implement so many precautionary measures already; otherwise, you really would have had a lot more damage. Now, with the ditch alongside the driveway, perhaps next random wicked storm, you won't have any damage... hopefully!! =D Love that lil tractor of yours! We need to get us one of those!

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    1. That tractor has saved us so many times.

      Thank you for writing in:)

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  4. That tractor has got to be one of the favorite (and most useful) things you have.....just below having Mike..LOL!!
    I think back to all that you have used it for over the past few years, and it has more than paid for itself, I'm sure.

    Glad that you were able to make those repairs. Now, what about the driveway sections that had cracked? Are you going to pull those up, reenforce under that section, and then repave those areas (looked like only a couple of spots).

    I think you can buy bags of the stuff at Lowe's, and then once you have it packed in place, you can re-seal that area, and it may look pretty much like new. Not sure if you can use the old stuff...unless to break it up and put it under the new stuff?

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    1. LOL...Mike trumps the tractor:)

      We thought about trying to repair the pavement ourselves but we may let our paver do it when he paves the last section of our driveway on the Fall. For now we will do our best to keep the side of the drive safe from any more water.

      At least that was part of the driveway that we didn't seal yet. That was on our Fall "to do list":)

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