Flood clean up

These are some photos of the flood's aftermath and clean up at my in-laws' house.  Not a room escaped some water and mud.  There were homes damaged worse so there was some luck here but still a lot of muck!  There were a lot of people pitching in to help, too, which was very nice.  These were taken after a lot of work had already been done and more work needed to be done.

All carpets and baseboards had to go and the walls had to dry.

All the furniture throughout the house had to be piled in the front room or garage.

One view outside in the north yard--look at all the silty mud that was left behind!

All the food storage had to be brought upstairs from the shed's "cellar" so the mud could be shoveled (and hauled up in buckets) out of the cellar.  Then it all had to be taken downstairs again.  Then the main level of the shed had to have the same "clean out so it could be shoveled out" treatment. The mud around the patio is covering the back lawn.

One shot of the dumpster (and my cute husband).

A shot of the front yard and street.

A shot through the front doors--plenty of dirt on the floor still but looking much better.

The washroom.  Notice the mud lines on both doors.

This is the north side yard also--again notice all the mud and silt that was left behind.

I think what helped to mitigate the damage at my in-laws' house (bad as it was) was that between the dike and my in-laws' house were several wide open fields so the waters spread out, as my in-laws' house is a straight shot from the dike.

Here is a dike on probably Friday after the flood on Tuesday.  Watch this youtube video to watch the dike actually breaking.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MK8DlxmHPVg

When taking these pictures, I stood so I could take a picture of the dike and turn and take a picture of my in-laws' house (the rear) to show you how the dike was almost in their backyard and the water had a straight shot to the yard and house.

This is a shot of the backyard from the main road into town (by the dike).  Here is another youtube video that was shot in the cul de sac just past my in-laws' house. The water just wasn't as deep at my in-laws' as you see here because of the fields (my opinion). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahy37t7KrA8.  

I have new respect for how difficult it is to get rid of mud and dirt after a flood.  It felt like I was camping and cleaning the tent (which of course never really gets clean because everyone tracks bits of Mother Nature back into the tent).