May 29, 2007

Nothing new going on here in San Marcos, Tx. Besides rain and more rain. I still haven't been able to ride the trails and they have been finished for almost 3 weeks now.

This past Sunday (Memorial Day weekend) we went to the San Marcos river and hung out with some friends of ours for a bit. All day the sun came and went as the clouds were rolling through town. I said that it wasn't going to rain so we might as well go, and if it does rain, well, a little water never hurt anybody and not to mention I would be wet from the river anyways. Needless to say after about 30 to 45 minutes it began to rain so we decided to go to a friends house instead of home.

Just to fill you in, San Marcos has many little flood plains an houses are built on hills. Well, as I was enjoying myself playing bowling on the Nintendo Wii I hear one of the guys say, "OH SHIT!, OUR HOUSE IS ABOUT TO FLOOD AGAIN! EVERYBODY GET A BROOM AND MOP TO SWEEP THE WATER FROM THE BACK DOOR TO THE FRONT!". Now luckily it's a straight shot from the back to front, tile flooring all the way. What had happened was there was water running from multiple neighbors yards into their yard and bring all the debris and trash with it. All of the leaves and tree branches, etc. were clogging the chainlink fence so the water couldn't run through, therefore it was routed directly to their back porch which is pretty low and in a corner so water piled up and started coming in the back door. We open a got on one side of the house and a mini river flows by.

At this time I realize that I have to walk around the house to the other side to free up the debris build up from the fence. As I am walking water is at knee level and flowing very very fast. I can't see the ground or what I might be stepping on because the water is so deep and dirty. I finally get over to the fence and grab a shovel to start shoveling the debris over the fence. This doesn't really matter because more and more keeps coming. At this time there is still water up to my knees. Amy is staring out of the garage window at me and telling me to be careful. I told her I needed a 13mm wrench so I could take the fence down to let the debris and water flow through. I get 5 out of 6 bolt out, and the last one is about 4 inches off of the ground, so it's under the water and I can't see it. Finally I get it off and the fence flies open like a gate and water takes off.

While walking towards the back of the house to try and redirect the flow of the water more towards the back of the yard and around the house, a wheel barrow comes floating towards me. I took care of it, got into the back yard only to notice that the water and debris had bent 5 of the poles concreted in the ground and took the fence out! I finally got the water rerouted away from the house, only to notice a snake. Yeah, at that point I was done, needed a drink and wanted to finish my bowling game on the Wii.

All of this and some more all happened within an hour. The flash flood rain flooded their house within 5 to 10 minutes. No damage besides some wet tile and towels to keep the water out of the bedrooms and hallways.