Creekers in eastern states...good luck.

[Greg Ladd]

Hello everyone,

I know there are quite a few Creekers in Pennsylvania and the surrounding states that are having severe issues with flooding. Jim Becker lives in Buck County I believe which is one of the flood areas

I just wanted to say good luck and I hope everyone is alright. I will be praying for all of you.

Greg

[Randy Moore]

Amen to that. I am prayin' for you folks back east.

Jim Becker give us an update as to what is going on weather wise around you and are you in any danger of flooding?:confused:

[Dennis Peacock]

Same here...wishing and praying the best for all of you on the east coast areas.

[Fred Voorhees]

I am just across the river from Jim and actually miles closer from the Jersey side. My wife and I crossed the river tonight on one of the bigger bridges in the area and I can tell you, the smaller Lambertville,NJ/New Hope,PA free bridge is darned near under water - the driving surface that is. I grew up in Lambertville and now live just outside of that town. At this level, I can pretty much be assured that there are a number of people that I know that are now probably staring at flooded basements, and others streets where they live. I know the VFW lodge in Lambertville is more than likely submerged - that always suffers water damage at these kinds of levels. My wife and I had gone food shopping tonight and when we got back, one of my fishing buddies left a message telling me that one of the areas that we drift past when we do our Sunday morning bass fishing floats on the Delaware is severely high and unrecognizeable. The river has alread crested its banks and I think my wife told me that she had heard that it would go higher until sometime later tonight. I do know that there was an awful lot of debris being swept down the river tonight.

[Mark Rios]

I've only been hearing about the Northern part of PA today on the news. I thought of Jim (and for some reason the guy that got hit by lightning while on his tractor in a storm last month down in the same part of the state) but I knew that he was in the south-eastern part. Didn't know it was so bad there too. My best to all of you.


Quick!........finish that kayak.

[Jim Becker]

Thanks, Gregg. I just got a picture from my brother up in Honesdale in NE PA and it was not a pretty sight...one of the local gas stations about half-way submerged.
------

Here...well, it was very wet this morning. "Lakes" everywhere. Unfortunately, one of them was in our basement. The old sump pump decided that last night was the PERFECT night to forget to turn on when the ground water rose after several inches of rain. So, we had a foot and a half of water down there.

I had already left very early as I had an 8am meeting with a customer at my employer's headquarters in New Jersey, so Dr. SWMBO discovered the problem. :( (Not a great way to start the day when "the older" was being quite ornery already) She hiked up her dress and waded through the water to give the pump a good swift kick (literally...) to get it started again and it did clear the water after awhile. She also shut down the hot water heater...it wasn't going to work too well under water, anyway, and headed off to work after dropping the girls off at camp.

I stopped at the 'borg in Bridgewater on the way home and picked up a new sump pump...installed it once I got home and bid the old one adieu. (It had served the previous owner many years and us for almost six, so I guess it's hard to complain too much about it...)

Hot water heater is fine. Washer is fine. Dryer is toast. But it was also very old...the last remaining appliance from the previous owners and our continued use of it has literally been a "gift" for a long time. We actually planned on replacing it when the addition (http://toscax.us/blog/addition.htm) is built...with a gas dryer. So I guess we'll pick up a "moderately priced" electric dryer for now since I can install it myself (I don't do gas lines...but will do any other kind of plumbing or electrical work without batting an eyelash...) and we need it by sometime on the weekend. We'll just sell it for whatever we can when we move everything to the new planned 2nd floor laundry in the addition... ;)


And...I also pumped out a few inches of water from the fish pond for the second day in a row...sheesh!

[Wes Bischel]

I think Jim and Tom (Sweeney) got hit harder than we did in Lancaster - and things here are a bit of a mess. A lot of roads are closed including the major north/south highway so traffic is bad. The HD was out of shop vacs and was running low on pumps. Seems the worst is yet to come for those near some streams and the Susquehanna river. Crests are expected sometime Thursday, but not as bad as initially thought. There are a lot of flooded basements, (which have never flooded before) but not as much destruction as northern PA.

I'm hoping we hear from Jim soon - I'm beginning to worry a bit. EDIT speak of the devil! Good to hear things are OK Jim - well somewhat.
Thanks for the thoughts.
Wes

[Greg Ladd]

I suppose at this point it is good news to hear that the issue is 'only' flooded basements and a few ruined appliances. I hope you all have seen the worst of this and tomorrow brings sunshine.

I hope that any of your extended family members and friends are dry and safe also.

Keep us posted. - Greg

[Mark Rios]

The news says that 200,000 people have been evacuated from the northern part of PA? And that 12 have died.

My best to all up there!

[Ken Fitzgerald]

My thoughts and prayers to those in that area!

[Karl Laustrup]

Jim, glad you and family are OK. Hope y'all get some sun and get dried out quick.

Karl

[Tyler Howell]

Gotch your back Guys

[Jim Becker]

Spoke too soon. Hot water heater is also toast...major water damage to the electronics and gas valve. Ching...ching...it's a high-efficiency, power direct-vent, 50 gallon "shorty" (due to the very low ceiling in the basement of this 250 year old structure). $1100 to replace since it's an unusual format. The supplier just delivered it and the plumber will be here late today or early tomorrow to install. I guess I'll get a visit to the health club...a place I haven't been in too long due to parental time constraints...since they have showers with hot water and I need one! :eek:

So...I'm checking with my insurance agent to see if I have a sump pump failure provision in my policy (it's extremely comprehensive and may just have this) since I have to replace both the HWH and dryer. But the agency is swamped, err...under water at the moment...literally...in Yardley PA since the Delaware is way over its banks. Go figure! ;)

[Karl Laustrup]

Just curious Jim, if you had thought about a tankless unit for hot water? I don't know the situation as far as where it could be vented in your house, but it would mount to the wall and unless water got up a couple of feet would remain dry.

Just wondering.

Karl

[Jim Becker]

Just curious Jim, if you had thought about a tankless unit for hot water? I don't know the situation as far as where it could be vented in your house, but it would mount to the wall and unless water got up a couple of feet would remain dry.

Yes, three years ago. I wanted tankless big-time. Unfortunately, we could not provide proper venting for ANY of the tankless units on the market in this particular basement and there is no other practical location available. The addition will get tankless, but we have to stick with this type for the older portion of the home. That said, our gas bills have been very low with this unit and it has very quick recovery...something important with four people and a "hungry" dual-dishdrawer setup asking for hot water frequently.

[Vaughn McMillan]

Sorry to see you're having problems, Jim, but also glad it's not worse than it has been for you.

...But the agency is swamped, err...under water at the moment...literally...in Yardley PA since the Delaware is way over its banks. Go figure! ;)
Which raises an interesting question:

Who does an insurance company call when they have a claim?

That's one of those questions like "What do you use to get rid of club soda stains?" ;)

- Vaughn

[Wes Bischel]

Jim,
Sorry to hear about the dryer and water heater. Seems like there is a lot of that going around. The more people I talk to, the more damage I hear about. My Father-in-law spent all night Tuesday in their basement with the shop vac and bailing to minimize the damage. Good thing, their neighbors had to have the fire department pump out their basements!:(

Good luck with the replacements.

Wes - I'm feeling very very lucky right now.

[Karl Laustrup]

Yes, three years ago. I wanted tankless big-time. Unfortunately, we could not provide proper venting for ANY of the tankless units on the market in this particular basement and there is no other practical location available. The addition will get tankless, but we have to stick with this type for the older portion of the home. That said, our gas bills have been very low with this unit and it has very quick recovery...something important with four people and a "hungry" dual-dishdrawer setup asking for hot water frequently.

I kinda figured that would be the answer, but thought I'd ask anyway.

Really happy with our Rinnai in the new house. It takes a little longer than I expected to get hot water to the faucets, but we can do two showers at once and for as long as we want without running out of hot water.

Karl

[Jim Becker]

New hot water heater ready to be installed tomorrow morning...check!

New dryer in the garage ready to be installed on Saturday, "fresh" from the 'Depot (which is conveniently having a 10% off sale)...check!

Taking a cold shower tonight because I went to buy a dryer, rather than running to the health club for some hot water....oy veh!

[Jerry Olexa]

Jim been off the forum for a few days but glad to hear you're OK. The first Tv news show I saw mentioned Bucks County as well as The Wilkes Barre Susquehana river area where I have roots. I grew up in a home on River Street and in 1972 it and the whole area got hit by Agnes. I took time off from work and helped my Dad get his home back operating. We were the first home in our area to have electricity running (we had to clean and dry each box before they would turn on power). Mud was everywhere.. Many memories. Glad it worked out.I also have relatives in Mt Laurel, NJ and they too are OK. Enjoy your hot shower...

[Bill Grumbine]

Jim, sorry to hear about the flooding. We are pretty much high and dry here. With the new driveway, water is not even collecting at the shop door anymore! I hope things work out for you and everyone else in the area!

Bill

[Jim Becker]

Jerry, we are 6 miles from the river and outside of the 100 year flood line for the "local stream". That said, we generally get water in our basement from time to time, mostly at this point from the water table getting high after a lot of heavy rain. It just comes up from below and ebbs as the water table drops. Since we fixed the gutter drainage, we don't usually get too much from that, but no gutter will handle the "torrential rains" like we had on Wednesday night. Hence, the problem when the old sump pump decided to sleep through the event. (Not the first time, but the worst.)

The new hot water heater went in this morning...and my hot shower after lunch was wonderful, despite having to be short. Tosca (our Senegal Parrot) enjoyed it, too... ;) I'm installing the new dryer tomorrow...Creeker, friend and coworker, Robert Tarr, is coming over in the morning to help me move the new one downstairs and bring the old one out. After that, it's just dealing with the electrical...the new one will not be hard-wired.

Then I can get back on other projects, like putting the 3pt back blade I've restored back together and maybe even doing some spinny work on my tiger maple candle stand...who knows.

That all said, there are many, many folks once again devastated by the flooding around here. One local family was just starting the work to jack up their home to repair it from the April 2005 flooding and make it higher for the future...it took that long to clear the insurance and/or disaster monies. Many businesses and homes on both sides of the Delaware are once again ruined, some for the third time in as many years.