The Great Flood of 2014: Part One

Ok, I may be exaggerating using the term “Great Flood” to describe what occurred in the Westerling Residence on Tuesday, January 7, 2014, but it certainly was a great disaster of chaos. An arctic blast cold front had moved into much of the country, and Knoxville was hit with near record-low temperatures of negative degrees with wind-chill. I arrived home at 6pm from a severely exhausting arm-day at a personal training session to open my garage door and see a waterfall springing from my attic. It was picturesque, and as I sat in my car for a whole minute my brain tried to comprehend “Is this a joke?” and “why is it raining inside?”. When my wits finally returned, I tried calling my husband over the Bluetooth system in my car, but apparently the kind, female, robotic operator can’t understand the voice of a frantic woman! I reach over to start dialing the numbers manually into my phone (like some kind of animal!) only to cry out in pain from my sore, debilitating, T-Rex arms. I unlock the screen and start randomly pressing different apps (Facebook, Instagram – why won’t my fingers press the correct buttons?! Weather Channel, Photostream – I just wanna make a phone call!!!). Here’s where I’d say I must’ve been in shock, because for the life of me I couldn’t make myself unlock the phone and call Rob. I felt trapped with no way of communicating, putzing around while my garage continued to pour in water by the gallon. THINK MICHELE! I was finally able to select Rob and the phone began ringing…

View from my car (I still hadn't gotten out to see all the damage yet)

“How’s my sexy wife doing?” Rob exclaims as he answers the telephone. “Drop everything and GET HOME NOW!” I frantically yell. “Did a pipe burst?” he calmly asks, as if he can already see the terror through my eyes. “I’ll be home in 5 minutes, I don’t know how to explain to you where the water shut-off valve is,” he states, and then he’s hung up before I can say another word. Five or so agonizing minutes pass by, and I’m still sitting in my car twiddling my thumbs. Gah, at least it’s contained to the garage I think to myself as Rob pulls into the driveway. We both rush through the garage shower and open the door to the inside of the house, but nothing could prepare us for the horror awaiting us...

Collapsed ceiling and attic insulation

A shower was spewing water from the ceiling in the kitchen like some kind of geyser, and there was two inches of water pooling on the downstairs floor like an ice-cold water park. Utter chaos and shock as we waded through to the water heater closet to try and cut the water off to the house. As I squeezed myself into the too-tiny closet to reach the knob, Rob ran outside with a wrench and tools to turn off the water at the street. Once the water was off at both locations and it quit dripping from the bulkhead, we made sure the cats were ok (hiding upstairs and meowing like broken records, but safe). The entire first floor of our house was completely and absolutely flooded with at least two inches of pooling water; everything from furniture to area rugs was waterlogged. The house was built on a concrete slab, and this caused the water to have no escape to the outside. We stood there in absolute dismay as thoughts of who to call first passed through our minds. We divided and conquered like the great team we are J Rob called his mom and they worked on getting a restoration company to come and clean up the mess that evening. I called my parents and told them to rent a U-Haul so we could get all of our furniture out of the downstairs part of the house (maybe it could be saved!). Then, I called our insurance agent to relay the news. Lastly, I called every nearby friend I could think of to come and help us with all the work.

Hard to see, but lots of water!

Soaked rugs/floor

 Long story short, Reynold’s Restoration and Cleaning (RR&C) is the best company on the planet. Not only did they make a special trip for our house (Thanks to Nancy’s connections), but they got there quickly and started the cleanup process of taking up flooring, helping move furniture, and beginning the dry-out process. The RR&C team was timely, professional and courteous, and I would most definitely recommend them to anyone needing their services in the future. Wonderful friends and family also showed up to help move odds and ends into the moving truck and into safe territory upstairs. RR&C didn’t leave until midnight, and our house had transformed into a construction zone in just a few hours. Turns out the ice-maker pipe burst in the ceiling above the garage/fridge area and it kept dispensing water the whole day...

Flooring pulled up and commercial grade dehumidifiers turned on

Kitchen MESS

Floor being pulled up

Garage ceiling

Living room view with fans galore

Dining room

Reynolds Restoration & Cleaning

The funny part of this story is Rob and I were set to leave in just 3 short days for a non-refundable ten-day Caribbean cruise vacation. Great timing! In our final days before the trip, we scrambled to pick out new flooring and cabinet color (left cabinet style and other renovating details to Rob’s parents). We said BonVoyage! that Friday and left the winter turmoil for blue skies and beach!

Stay tuned for The Great Flood of 2014: Part Two!