Saturday, August 18, 2007

9 inches below flood plain

The surveyor came out today. Bad news. Our house is 9 inches below the flood plain! He nodded sagely when I told him the story of the airboats causing waves to crash into the house during Tropical Storm Allison (we didn't live here yet). Apparently, I should expect this in the future.

Anyway, it's discouraging. Our real estate agent obviously skipped her "Ethics" class - she lied to us and told us we were NOT in the flood plain. Thanks a lot. The surveyor was a nice guy with very reasonable prices so I'm glad of that. But we're probably looking at another several hundred dollars a year in insurance.

Ironically, we don't qualify for coverage with Hurricane Dean headed for the Gulf (of Mexico), so we'll have to wait and see - if we flood, then we have to get coverage that won't cover the flooding we'd already be dealing with. Or maybe nothing will happen with Dean and we'll just be crying over our lost money. At any rate, all our treasures are in Heaven.

Worst case I'll prop up my footstool/yarn storage box. I spent a lot of time staining it and it holds all my most favorite yarn. My Bibles and Grandma's knitting basket on my bed. Everything else that isn't furniture is already in a plastic storage box. The cabinets in the kitchen and bathroom are intact (vintage 1985), and our carpeting is old enough that it's obvious it didn't get damaged during our last flood event (although if it did get ruined, I wouldn't cry too hard. It's kind of an icky brown. Something like a mauve would rock! I have an idea about "Sandbags" I could make if we do start to flood, so worry shelved.

Tomorrow we're going to Walmart. I'd feel better if we got some plastic sheeting and maybe another 5 gallon bucket. I also want some more Cherry Cola Diet Rite (In my perfect world, I have a soda fountain that flows Diet RC, Diet Dr Pepper, and Cherry Cola Diet Rite.

Now, all that said, it looks like Dean will hit Northern Mexico, or the Brownsville area. Nice for us in Houston, but I believe the meteorologist who told us to wait until tomorrow before we count our chickens.

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