Friday night started with one of those storms that makes me want to sit outside and watch every minute of it.

Rain and hail were pounding the deck, and the wind was so strong that the rain was blowing sideways. The gutters couldn’t keep up; water was simply pouring over the top of them in sheets. By the time I came back inside, the entire deck was soaked from the sideways rain, but I didn’t think much of it. I just thought it was an incredible storm.

I went downstairs, watched some TV for a while, and eventually headed toward bed.

The moment I stepped onto the carpet, I knew something was wrong.

It was soaked.

I started checking rooms and found water everywhere—the laundry room, the bathroom, the hallway, and even part of our bedroom. Jaelee and Brennan were here, and thankfully they jumped into action with me. We hauled out the shop vac, set up fans, and spent the next couple of hours vacuuming water and trying to dry everything out. The garage had some water in it too, but at that point the basement was our main focus.

Exhausted, I finally went to bed.

At 6:00 a.m. I woke to the dog barking and the unmistakable sound of another torrential downpour. This time I knew I needed to check the drains immediately.

I ran outside and tried to clear the front drain, but the rain was coming down so hard that I couldn’t keep up. Water was rushing in faster than I could clear debris away, and within minutes I was completely soaked. Eventually I realized I was accomplishing nothing and went back inside.

When I opened the back door from the laundry room, a wall of water rushed in and flooded the laundry room all over again.

As soon as the rain eased, I checked the garage. The first time it had only partially flooded.

This time the entire garage was under water.

So I spent the next several hours doing it all over again—shop vac, towels, fans, moving boxes and tools, and trying to stay ahead of the water.

And through all of this, Greg was out at the property, blissfully and happily unaware that our basement and garage were turning into an indoor swimming pool.

Looking back, I can laugh a little at the irony. I started the evening sitting on the deck admiring what I thought was a spectacular storm. A few hours later, I was standing ankle-deep in water wondering how many times one person can empty a shop vac before breakfast.

It was a long, wet, exhausting weekend—but I was incredibly thankful for Jaelee and Brennan’s help, for fans and shop vacs, and for the fact that the water could be cleaned up. Some storms are beautiful from the deck.

Some storms remind you to check the drains before you go to bed.

Saw a slug trying to get out of the flood waters.

The storm was so crazy, look at all the events that were canceled.

The pool filled so much I had to let some out so it didn’t overflow.

You can see the debris on the door and see how high the water came up.