The crew didn't work yesterday because the Weather Channel App predicted 100% chance of rain, beginning in the morning.  It didn't rain until 4 p.m. yesterday.  Now they probably won't get here in time to work today.  Hopefully we will have some dry days so they can get something done.

Look at who we found at the house. There are so many politically incorrect jokes here that I will let you make up your own.  Hopefully someone is there working in the rain tomorrow.

Okay, seriously. Elevating our house 12.5 feet is not fun.  But doing it in the middle of a pandemic just makes it more special.  Next thing we expect is for the creek to turn red.  Maybe a plague of locusts.  Is it just a coincidence that the company saving us from another flood is “Ark”itektura???  There is “Noah” other explanation for this.  (Okay, it’s getting too corny.  I will stop.)

I think we found the real reason the workers left.

Jo Ann and I are extremely frustrated.  The work crew left last night to work on a house in Houston.  They will be back Monday, which isn't too bad, but it is supposed to rain Monday and Tuesday.  So they won't be able to start until Wednesday, which means they will have to spend time pumping out the water that has accumulated from the rain.  I knew something was up last night when they loaded up a lot of their equipment.

They keep digging. There is not much to show, just deeper holes and more destruction.

Weather has kept the crew from working every day, but they are back at work today.  Water fills the holes they dig, so they have to pump them out.  They have to jack hammer out strips of concrete so they can dig some of the holes.

The tunneling crew is back at work today.  They are jack-hammering the concrete that is in their way.  They are doing something with the concrete blocks and rebar, but I don't know what.

Crews were unable to work Thursday and Friday due to rain, so I think they went back to Louisiana for equipment.  The holes that they had dug filled with water.  However, a truck was able to deliver concrete blocks.

The tunneling crew has started digging under the house.

The work crew didn't get here from Louisiana today until too late to get started.  Weather permitting, they will start at 7a.m. Wednesday morning.  The Arkitektura supervisor set up some barriers and the work crew dug a little bit to check out the soil.  At least ground has been broken.

...And so it begins.  We met with a group from Arkitektura  at the house at noon today.  They are to begin tunneling under the house tomorrow.  The first elevation procedure should occur in about 30 days.

We meet Monday to get the Elevation rolling.  Wonderful!

I just found out that we got funding yesterday. Next comes the Notice to Proceed.

TWDB has told us that we should get funding on March 5th or 6th.  That means that the Grant Manager can then issue a Notice to Proceed to the Elevation Contractor.  That should get us started. 

This is our house in drier times:

On October 30, 2013 a water alarm went off in our house at around 11:00 at night.  Jo Ann told me that an alarm was going off, so I woke up and got up, thinking it was a leaking ice maker.  As I walked into the kitchen I stepped into water.  I looked at the front door and water was squirting out of the sides.  I realized what was happening and decided to try to save the car, but it was too late.  When I opened the garage door, the water came rushing in.  That night we had 22" of water in the house.  All of the carpet, most of the furniture, and a lot of our property below the 22" water mark was ruined.  All of the sheet rock up to 48" had to be taken out.  Fred Carter, our hero, put the house back together for us.  We can't say enough good about Fred.  And luckily we had flood insurance.

This photo is an example of the interior damage:

This photo shows the water line on the outside of the house (and Badges):

On June 13, 2016, we flooded again.  This time we didn't open any doors and the depth was limited to about 4".  However, that was enough to ruin furniture and carpet, requiring that the sheet rock and carpet be torn out.  Again, Fred Carter came to the rescue.

Because we had two serious floods and had flood insurance,  FEMA has a program that will pay to elevate the house if there are multiple floods with significant loss.  Because of the extent  of loss to FEMA, our house, 28 Mimosa Lane received a grant to elevate the house to 12.5 above flood plain level because it would save FEMA money rather than continue to pay claims under our flood insurance. This means that water will flow over Highway 84 before it comes into the house again.  We would like to acknowledge the tremendous help of FEMA, The Texas Water Development Board (TWDB), Kathy Hopkins of TWDB, Niamh Gray of TWDB, The City of Teague, The Teague City Council, Theresa Bell, City Administrator/Secretary, Mayor James Monks, and Jeff Ward, Grant Manager.  All of these people have been very kind and helpful during this ongoing ordeal.

Then on April 24, 2019 we flooded again.  That time it only ruined the carpet.  The depth was about 1".  Fred Carter took out the carpet and we continued to live in the house.

 Finally, on May 18, 2019 we flooded again, to a depth of 10".  Furniture was ruined, carpet ruined and the sheet rock had to be torn out.  We moved into our rent house at 8 Mimosa Lane and remain there at this time, pending elevation and repair.  Once elevated, we will again look to Fred Carter to restore our once comfortable home.

This blog is intended to document the elevation of our house.  It is not intended to talk about politics, gossip, or dogs.  Okay, maybe an occasional dog.  Unfortunately, our buddy Badges won't be moving back into the house with us when it is finished.  She died of cancer in August of 2019.  This blog is dedicated to her.