We had about 5 inches of rain Tuesday night and my sump pump decided it would be the perfect time to fail and it did. Wednesday I had four inches of water in my basement on the down-sloped corner where the sump pump is located. The rest of the basement was also covered in about 2 inches of water. Most of what's stored down there is elevated because I live on land with a high water table (my household water comes from a dug well that's only eighteen feet deep).
Yesterday, my brother who was coming for lunch with his wife, spent a couple of hours helping me out. I couldn't bend down far enough to work on it myself. He removed the pump before they went to a local dealership to get their cars serviced and while I went shopping for a new pump. The installation went without a hitch and the basement quickly began to empty. We went to lunch and by the time we got back, the basement had been drained and the floor was just wet.
I checked on it first thing this morning. Call it a lucky day.
I keep my reloading supplies (bullets and primers) in a cabinet at floor level, but elevated to prevent water damage. This morning the plastic hardware holding the shelf in the cabinet broke. Not so lucky. The shelf collapsed and fell forward, dropping it's contents onto the (now dry) floor. Holy Smoke. Everything in there, thousands of bullets and four thousand primers bought at 4 cents each) were now on the floor and still bone dry. A few hours earlier and everything would have been under water and the primers likely ruined.
Phew. All's well at the loading bench. Lucky day. Another two inches of rain is expected tonight.