Into every life a little rain must fall ...

On Thursday night my wife called me in full panic mode and told me that our toilet was overflowing and she didn't know how to stop it. I was at the middle school meeting my kids' teachers for parent teacher conference and knew I wouldn't make it home in time to address the situation myself. I tried to explain to her how to turn off the water to the house, but neither of us was thinking very clearly and I finally just said "Go get a neighbor!" Fortunately our neighbor was home, and he came over and turned off the water. I visited the most essential teachers and then came home as quickly as I could. This is what our bedroom looked like when I got there:




And this is the offending toilet. We're still not sure exactly why it overflowed and wouldn't stop, but it was probably due to a combination of being clogged and the plunger not working correctly (we recently had our toilet worked on by a plumber and everything is new except for the porcelain, but perhaps one of the parts was bad or perhaps it was just a fluke):


My wife called a disaster cleanup company and it took them about an hour and a half to arrive even though their yellow pages ad said they would respond within 45 minutes (they were coming from Salt Lake). At first I was thinking they would arrive, dry the carpet and leave, and we could move on with our lives. Such naivety! As things stand now, the damage is quite extensive (possibly $5,000 or more), but fortunately our insurance will cover must of it. Here is one of the fans they put in our bedroom the night of the flood:


Bedroom and bathroom fans:


The dehumidifier in our bedroom:


One of the reasons the damage is so extensive is that the water seeped into the bathroom in our hallway and through the floor to the bathroom below (and a little bit in my daughter's bedroom closet). I checked the downstairs bathroom before the disaster cleanup guys arrived and it looked okay, but by the time they arrived, the downstairs bathroom ceiling had started to bubble because of water. The yellow thing in this picture is a meter that the disaster cleanup guys used to determine if there was water in the ceilings and walls (almost like a divining rod):


The disaster cleanup guys put a fan in our downstairs bathroom to try to dry the ceiling (they later came and cut the ceiling out entirely):


The fans are supposed to run until Monday. They're pretty loud, but I'm getting used to them and other than having trouble hearing each other when we read scriptures it hasn't been too bad. But our lives are in a bit of upheaval ... furniture and possessions are piled everywhere from the garage to the kids' bedrooms. On Friday the disaster cleanup guys found mold in our upstairs bathrooms and had to suspend their work, but hopefully they'll be able to make some progress next week. In the mean time all we can say is, "C'est la vie" and learn from the experience! I'll post more pictures as the work progresses :)