The next day sky is so clean.
Hurricane Ida
- Thread starter Stress_Test
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turbodog
Flashaholic
Dang... I knew this. Should have mentioned it. Not sure how to prevent sewer backflow though.
raggie33
*the raggedier*
- Joined
- Aug 11, 2003
- Messages
- 13,739
i just remove the sewer cap in my yard
tech25
Flashlight Enthusiast
It's beautiful out, I just finished an overnight but don't want to go to sleep yet.
I missed the brunt of the storm working in the hospital, we had some flooding inside but didn't lose power so it didn't really affect us.
idleprocess
Flashaholic
With a slab build, seems like there ought to be some sort of pneumatic plug that could be inserted into the line down the cleanout outside that could prevent backflow into the house. I imagine that basements also have cleanouts, but I'm not familiar with those particulars.
jtr1962
Flashaholic
As near as I can tell, and I could be wrong, what happened was all the water landing on the roof, going into the gutters, and from there into the pipe leading to the city sewer, was what backed up into my basement. A plug or one-way valve from the city sewer wouldn't have prevented it. The city sewer was saturated. Nothing from the homes was draining into it. I don't think there was much backflow from the city sewer. It looked like muddy water more than raw sewage. Smelled like muddy water also. NYC unfortunately mandates that gutters have to drain into your sewer pipe, not into your driveway or elsewhere on your property. That rationale here is lots of houses pouring water from their gutter drains could quickly flood sidewalks and streets, so they want that to go right into the sewer. Usually it works fine, at least until the sewer is overwhelmed, as it was last night. I'm thinking of getting a sump pump and putting it in the front trap (the one nearest the city sewer). If there's overflow, the sump pump would in theory pump the water out into the driveway.
Now the cleanup begins. Thankfully most of what got wet was old magazines, cardboard boxes, plastic bags, etc. My Siglent signal generator got swamped. It's apart and I'm cleaning it. Hopefully it'll work fine. There might be a few other electronic things which got wet also, but probably nothing I care too much about. I had an old 720p TV I was trying to fix. Now it'll just go out. Ditto for any of my late father's baseball cards which got wet (nothing was worth much anyway or I would have already sold it). Most everything of value to me I kept at least 2 feet above the floor. I'm just glad it stopped when it did. For a time I was worried the basement might be flooded to ceiling height.
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idleprocess
Flashaholic
Are there no storm drains in NYC? There's considerable infrastructure in DFW for removing large volumes of storm water runoff, but that's likely related to the region's propensity for thunderstorms that can deliver several inches of rain in less than an hour.
That's interesting in NYC. On this side of the river, it is illegal to have rain gutter leaders drain into the city sewer lines.
jtr1962
Flashaholic
About 60% of NYC has a combined storm/sewer system, and 40% has a separate storm system. I think we're in the latter group but I'm not sure. We do have storm drains on the block. I heard the head of the DEP on the news today mention if the rainfall exceeds about 2 inches per hour we're going to have problems. And the governor said at this point we have to expect so-called one in 200 year events to happen more regularly and design for them. They were already in the process of doing $2 billion in sewer work in southeastern Queens. I imagine after this we're going to be rethinking the entire system.
turbodog
Flashaholic
The sewer backflows I have seen are from pressure and elevation differences. Client of mine got 4-5 feet of sewage in their place several years back.
Yeah, some sort of plug at the cleanout would work. For the cleanup cost versus repair cost I would empty a can of expanding foam into the cleanout.
Yeah, some sort of plug at the cleanout would work. For the cleanup cost versus repair cost I would empty a can of expanding foam into the cleanout.
Re to post 66:
Why do your roof down spouts run directly to the sewer?
Why not onto the yard? Enviro regs?
In my state there are regulations to interupt the down spout from flowing straight to the street on new apartments etc. But it involves much of the water perking into the soil with the overflow reaching the storm sewer system via curb and gutters or swales. Very beneficial for bushes and landscaped areas.
Why do your roof down spouts run directly to the sewer?
Why not onto the yard? Enviro regs?
In my state there are regulations to interupt the down spout from flowing straight to the street on new apartments etc. But it involves much of the water perking into the soil with the overflow reaching the storm sewer system via curb and gutters or swales. Very beneficial for bushes and landscaped areas.
jtr1962
Flashaholic
NYC rule. I could them run into a water barrel instead if I want, and use that for gardening. But I can't let them run into my yard or my property. Point of fact a lot of houses here don't even have yards, so the water would end up running onto the sidewalk.
That could work also, assuming you have enough yard to absorb most of the water.
jtr1962
Flashaholic
Did some cleanup today. There was a 10 inch (not including the tail) dead rat in the front trap. 
I don't know if it came up today or yesterday. It was actually clogging the line.
I don't know if it came up today or yesterday. It was actually clogging the line.
Last night we went to the theatre to see Chang-Chi & the legend of the ten rings. The theatre is in a mall that is surrounded on two sides by a river that floods. I checked a couple of the river hydrographs before we went out. During the 3 hours we would be in the theatre the river was predicted to rise another 2 feet. Most of the lot we usually park in was under water. But one adjacent to the theatre was on higher ground. It was about 8 feet higher, and the escape route was also high enough that it would not flood.
When we left the theatre, there were a couple of cars that were parked at the high-point of the lower lot. The water was about 50 feet from them when we entered, and when we left, the water was at their tires.
We noted that a section of a State Highway was flooded - the river actually crossed the highway- and a long line of traffic was being diverted. On the way home, we took the high road, one that travels along the ridge line. It is helpful to know your local topography.
When we left the theatre, there were a couple of cars that were parked at the high-point of the lower lot. The water was about 50 feet from them when we entered, and when we left, the water was at their tires.
We noted that a section of a State Highway was flooded - the river actually crossed the highway- and a long line of traffic was being diverted. On the way home, we took the high road, one that travels along the ridge line. It is helpful to know your local topography.
I lived in a town house for a bit that had a 12x12 foot front lawn with a 3 foot sidewalk splitting it. Didn't take long for the parking lot to flood with 200 units dumping rain water away from the building when hurricane Dennis dumped 18" on us one day.
Ida barely affected my area where 30 minutes west and north……good gosh! They got a bunch of rain.
Yesterday's news reported that a man was stuck under an overpass due to a flood. They had to cut a hole in the road to get to him. Who'd a thunk?
thermal guy
Flashaholic
How in the hell do you rebuild from this? Poor people.
Very carefully lol. But seriously though, many start from scratch. Any structures still standing are made sure they are still sound and then carefully rebuilt. Those that are not are torn down and rebuilt from the ground up.
Seems like every 8-12 years total devastation happens, crazy to me that people get used to it. Louisianans are resilient and we always rebuild again. Living on an island that essentially is in the Gulf of Mexico it's just a way of life.
Watch: Cow rescued from Louisiana tree after Hurricane Ida - UPI.com
A rescue crew in Louisiana came to the aid of a cow found wedged in a tree above the floodwaters left behind by Hurricane Ida.
www.upi.com
^^A cow stuck in a tree was rescued. Yaaaay!!
