First-World Problems...

Except that wasn't the problem!

We had a startling quantity of rain a few weeks ago as the remnants of Hurricane Ida dropped what seemed like most of the Mississippi in a very short amount of time. Nothing like the Gulf Coast or other parts of the country, but the Northeast simply doesn't see that much rain...ever.

But we got almost 10 inches of rain in about 12 hours, and that is just too much water for most houses. At one point all three of my sump pumps were running, and at 60 gallons/minute/pump that is a lot of water!

But the only real issue was the inability of the gutters to carry away all of that water, so some of it spilled down the house and into the soil around the foundation. I noticed the water spilling over the gutters and my first thought was that they were clogged, but no, they simply could not handle the volume.

And the solution? Nope...there isn't one. I guess I could replace them with wider and deeper gutters, but that doesn't add a significant amount of capacity and may just transfer the rate limiting step to the seepage pits.

Well...the solution is to have an excellent Manhattan (stirred, not shaken) made with good red vermouth and maple syrup, and not worry about it until the next time we get that much rain. Which may not be for 20 or 30 years!

posted by CBD at 02:00 PM

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