A Whole Lot of Rain
It has been a strange few weeks around here. The big push to get this site launched over, I was left in a sort of productivity vacuum wondering, Well, what do I do now?
Oh yeah, client work. That'd be good.
The weirdness created by the vacuum was only enhanced by the incredible storm we had last week. Remnants of Gaston hovered over Richmond last Monday dropping 14 inches of rain on our little city. The storm managed to affect nearly everyone in town. My losses were relatively minor when compared with the massive loss of homes, businesses and even lives suffered by others in the city.
Pictures of the storm from our little corner of the city inside...
The rain was picking up in earnest when I parked the Caddy on the street in front of our house on Richmond's northside. My portfolio was in the backseat and thinking I would spare it from the downpour, I left it in the car. I had no idea — indeed, no one had any idea — that our end of the block would be a lake by 6pm. It could easily have gone unnoticed by us were it not for the fact that the frame around our living room window started leaking. Moving to pull down the shades and put some towels in place, I looked out the window onto the scene above. Our entire street was covered in about 2-3 feet of water.
At this point there was really nothing we could do to spare the vehicles (a '91 Cadillac Sedan DeVille and an '80 Datsun pickup). Attempting to start either of them while parked in so much water would probably only have made things worse. The water was still only up to the seats and not yet over the dash or engine so there was a good chance no water had made it into anything vital. I still had hope that they could both be started again after drying out a bit. Meredith's Forrester — our primary mode of family transport — was safely out of harms way parked in the driveway. So we let them sit and waited for the storm to pass.
By the time the rain ended water had made it just over the seats in both vehicles. In the morning I started the truck first after swabbing out the distributor cap. It spat about a gallon of water out of the tail pipe, but sprung to life nonetheless. Aside from a new humming noise, which I imagine is coming from some waterlogged bearings — possibly on the alternator which was submerged — the truck has been fine so far. An all-vinyl interior certainly helped it in drying out.
The Caddy did not fair so well. It started just fine which seemed promising. I let it sit in the sun with the windows down all day Tuesday, though I don't think that put even a dent into drying out the leather interiored, fully carpeted machine. By the next morning it was very apparent that the smell would be an issue. We elected to take it to the dealership to have it examined and see if insurance could help take care of the smell and extinguish a dash light marked ANTI LOCK which had decided to stay illuminated.
The story of the Cadillac is a long one. Suffice it to say that it holds significant sentimental value to Meredith (it was handed down to us from her Grandfather), so getting it straightened out was important. Insurance companies care very little about all this as you might imagine. The car was totalled, the interior being discontinued by GM and the overall value of the car being insufficient to warrant custom reupholstering. By Friday I was clearing out the last of my stuff and pulling off the tags.
I rather liked the Cadillac. At first it was really just a novelty item — so funny that I would be driving that car after driving a school bus yellow Datsun for several years. But it was really, really nice. Just what you would expect from a Cadillac — power, luxury, comfort — like driving a big easy chair...strapped to a 4.9 liter V8. I certainly won't miss the massive amounts of premium unleaded it required, but I will miss the car. It was a short run, but a very enjoyable one.
My portfolio was a total loss as well. Fortunately, with the exception of one college project for which I no longer have files, it can all be replaced. It was a hassle to put it together (mostly my own fault for being such a perfectionist about it), but nothing compared to the rebuilding that now has to happen in parts of the city that didn't fair so well. I feel very fortunate to have my family together in one piece here in my nice, dry home.
Now let's just hope that we can make it through the rest of hurricane season...
We were not alone. The neighbor's cars got a good soaking too.
My poor truck...lost at sea.
Down the block, I-64 in the distance is at a standstill by this point.
Portfolio damage.
Phil Hertzler | 09.06.04 | 0 comment(s)
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