Flash Flood!

Thursday night we had the second torrential rainstorm of the week. The first one was last Thursday. We received 6inches of rain in the night. The bottom section of our downspouts, the part that sits on the ground and directs the water away from the house, popped right off. I think from the force of the water coming down them! So all that water raced down along the foundation and into our basement. Well, not ALL of it, but enough to require the shop-vac and some muscle to get rid of it. So that was last week. This week I was worried about it as I was listening to the downpour raging outside. I got up, turned on the lights and made my way downstairs. On the way down the basement steps I heard the sound of water splashing on the floor. Did you catch that...SPLASHING!! Not a good or a happy sound! My sleep-blurred eyes focused on a river of water coming from the window area and coursing across the floor to the drain. Praise God for floor drains!! You know in cartoons how a stream of water will squirt out of a wall and someone sticks their finger in it to stop the flow?? That is exactly what happened, I am not exaggerating!! The window well was filling with water on the outside, it was up the glass about 5 inches. The water was looking for a way out and found a crack/hole in the mortar where four concrete blocks came together. An actual spout of water was shooting out of the wall behind the dryer. I stuck my thumb in the hole to stop the flow, but then what?? I hollered for Glen. No response. I hollered again. He simply couldn't hear me above the sound of the rain, and from all the way in the basement. Drawing a deep breath I removed my thumb from the wall and raced up the stairs. When Glen came down we took turns filling and emptying a container with the water shooting out. However, the window well was very full and all of that water had to go somewhere. So I headed outside in the storm to bail out the window well while Glen tried to keep up with the steady stream inside. It all seemed so surreal to me. Like something that you hear about, but doesn't really happen. It was definitely happening though! In the middle of all the excitement I actually did grab the camera to try to get some pictures. However, the camera didn't have a flash, and I was seriously too tired to try to figure anything else out. In the end we did the best we could and stopped the flow of water into the basement. I walked around the house in the downpour to check the downspouts. Everything was as it should be, so we headed back to bed worn out.
In the morning there was water all over the floor again. The crazy downspouts!! They just couldn't keep up with so much water. I guess we got about 6inches again. July was so dry, no rain at all. Now we have had 12 inches in just two rains in August. Crazy!
I did go outside to look at the damage. This video is of the creek just below our orchard. The terrific force of water flowing through the culvert under the road washed out part of the bank and several small trees. What a storm!