# FLOOD!!!



## Madman (Jan 5, 2008)

I am happy to say that although water found our parque floor, and our pond is in shambles, not to mention some ripped out trackage and washed out ballast, all is fine with the living beings here. Fort Washington, Pa. got hit hard Sunday morning with alot of rain. So much so that the BMWs down at West German Motors were floating off the lot. That's the second time in eight years, in spite of corrections made after the storm of '01, wiped out a good section of SEPTA's trackage, and the BMW dealership got their cars and premises washed with mudy water. This time guests at the Hilton watched as their cars floated away. The water rose so quickly that a small boy was wisked away from his father as they were parking their car at the hotel. I am extremely happy to say that firemen say the boy's hand sticking out of the water as he floated by them, and he is in the hospital in good condition the last I heard. 

Sunday, after I recooperated from the morning fighting off the rushing water, I looked at my railway and yard with that defeated feeling, contemplating whether or not to rebuild the pond, and repair the worst damaged parts of the railway. However, once one has time to assess the situation at hand, one tends to block out the cons and go with the pros. On the railway, other than one section of a tram line that is damaged severly, most of the repair work will be reballasting, and leveling track. The pond is far more work, involving rebuilding walls, streching the liner again, and making an emergency sort of removable dam to allow any future flood waters to simply wash through the pond. Amazingly, most of the goldfish are still swimming around in the little remaining water. As I stood at the bottom end of the pond and tore the concrete blocks and river stone apart to let the water out, I was knocked off my feet more than once. It shows you what powerful swimmers they are.

I will post some photos tomorrow.


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## altterrain (Jan 2, 2008)

That sucks Dan! I watched the radar this past week and saw all those big storms head up over PA. We got some much needed rain after being dry for three weeks. The dry spell gave me time to install a new drywell (NDS FloWell) over by the layout because the railfanning patio was covered in mud much of the Spring. Hope you dry out well! 

-Brian


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## on30gn15 (May 23, 2009)

Glad y'all are okay. And thankful that boy is okay too. Happy most of your fish are okay too. On rebuilding that RR section - the drive to create is pretty hardy.


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## Stan Cedarleaf (Jan 2, 2008)

[*] Wow, Dan... That's something. Sorry to hear of the damage. We saw images on The Weather Channel. Flooding was extensive.... [/list]


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## Steve Stockham (Jan 2, 2008)

Ugh! That totally sucks that it happened twice! Fortunately, it seems you got off relatively light considering. It could have been much worse!!


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## noelw (Jan 2, 2008)

*WOW.... Darn........Glad all are ok ... *


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## Madman (Jan 5, 2008)

Thanks for all your kind words. Yes, I do feel that we are more fortunate than most people that have these kinds of setbacks. Last night I was in a defeated mood. Today, after talking with my son, I feel much better, and together, we are both going to rebuild the pond, and replace tha damaged trackwork. A few photos;

Lower end of pond










Why not wash the floor 










Washed out ballast 










Upper end of pond










More ballast washout










Another view of the lower end of the pond 










Water line at patio door


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## Ray Dunakin (Jan 6, 2008)

Yikes! I'm glad you came through it without much worse damage.


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## aceinspp (Jan 2, 2008)

Wow that must have been one heck of a rain. The power of water is unreal. Glade every one is ok. Might be time to look for higher ground. Later RJD


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## bruce a m (Jan 2, 2008)

Sorry about the floods I am in South Jersey and we did not get the floods on the Railway but the road got flooded.


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## joe rusz (Jan 3, 2008)

Dan, that really bites. Sorry. I could say, "Send us (Southern California) some of that water, but about the time I do, we will get an El Nino winter with rain, high tides and mudslides, so I better shut up. Carry on!


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## Madman (Jan 5, 2008)

I was talking with my uncle who lives on Rt 541 in Medford, because I had heard that Burlington County was getting hit hard. He said that even in Lumberton, where there were severe floods, in '01 I believe, things were OK.


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## Madman (Jan 5, 2008)

Unfortunately, we live on the lower end of a sheep farm. His water, when we get rains like we did on sunday, comes right down toward the back of our house. Fortunately, we are not on low lying ground where the water would pool. As soon as it hits the house it goes around it and down toward the road and woods across the road. I have made as many improvements as I can over the years. Now I have to convince him to make improvements on his side. He's been putting me off for many years on this matter, and has only done minor things to the ground behind me to keep me quiet.


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## Semper Vaporo (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By Madman on 05 Aug 2009 07:27 PM 
Unfortunately, we live on the lower end of a sheep farm. His water, when we get rains like we did on sunday, comes right down toward the back of our house. Fortunately, we are not on low lying ground where the water would pool. As soon as it hits the house it goes around it and down toward the road and woods across the road. I have made as many improvements as I can over the years. Now I have to convince him to make improvements on his side. He's been putting me off for many years on this matter, and has only done minor things to the ground behind me to keep me quiet. 

Do you have a well for drinking water? 

Does the flow from his ground to your's run across or near the well (like within 100 to 150 feet?

Contact the EPA about it.


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## Madman (Jan 5, 2008)

Posted By Semper Vaporo on 05 Aug 2009 08:07 PM 
Posted By Madman on 05 Aug 2009 07:27 PM 
Unfortunately, we live on the lower end of a sheep farm. His water, when we get rains like we did on sunday, comes right down toward the back of our house. Fortunately, we are not on low lying ground where the water would pool. As soon as it hits the house it goes around it and down toward the road and woods across the road. I have made as many improvements as I can over the years. Now I have to convince him to make improvements on his side. He's been putting me off for many years on this matter, and has only done minor things to the ground behind me to keep me quiet. 

Do you have a well for drinking water? 

Does the flow from his ground to your's run across or near the well (like within 100 to 150 feet?

Contact the EPA about it.


I hope this is not bad news for my well. The well is literally right outside the kitchen window. I built a small over it. It has it's own concrete block underground structure with a concrete floor. The six inch casing protrudes above the floor a few inches. I moved the jet well pump into the basement about fifteen years ago to allow easier servicing and to keep it dry. When we purchased the house 35 years ago there was not much of a cover on the pit to protect it from the elements. It did flood several times. Once covering the pump. Since I built the structure atop the pit, it has been bone dry.


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## Randy Stone (Jan 2, 2008)

Sorry to hear about the flooding. It's bad enough when stuff outside gets damaged but the damage in the house is really bad. Hopefully you can get it all dried out without having a mold problem 

Randy


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