How’s this for a flooded basement?

They are still trying to pump the basement out of the Willis Tower after it flooded during torrential rains in the area Sunday. The power substations are there so no power in the building since it flooded. Several TV stations transmit their signals from there and have been off broadcast TV since.
Guess they need to get some bigger sump pumps!
https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/go...ficials-say/ar-BB14qaRo?ocid=hplocalnews

In 08 severe flooding hit Cedar Rapids. Since I work in the construction industry, I was one of the people who went around and inspected homes for safety before the public was allowed back into flooded areas. There were quite a few places with collapsed foundations because of the water pressure. After 1 day of inspecting, the city was tired of all the complaints and allowed people back to their homes in some of the outlying areas. People started pumping out their basements that were full of water. If they pumped the water out too fast, their foundations collapsed. I was told that you should only drain 2" of water out at a time. Keep doing this until the water level doesn't rise back up that 2". Then you can start pumping another 2".

Obviously things are different in that building but I wonder if similar concerns are being addressed.

A couple of days ago we had a SERIOUS flood issue here in Mich.. we had 3 dams let go during the
rain storms... it took out 1 small town and really hurt 2 other towns.. as of today they still have 35'
above flood level.. thats some bad flooding
EDIT
Yesterday the wife and I were headed home from our other house and we had to detour around
about 50 miles to stay clear of the flooding

I’m in Midland but on the low-rent side of town away from the river. That 35’ number is NOT above flood stage. River level normally runs 15-20’, with “Flood Stage” at Midland being 24’. The previous recorded high was 33.9’ in 1986. It’s the devastation in Edenville and Sanford from the Edenville Dam failing that have everything screwed up. At least 5 bridges, including 2 on M30 and the US10 bridge over Sanford Lake have major damage or are destroyed.

Here’s a decent drone video of some of the damage. Turn the crappy music off, and skip ahead after about 2 minutes of different views of downtown Midland and you’ll get to the REAL devastation.

I'm in Midland (north) as well. Drove through Sanford last night. Unbelievable devastation. Houses completely gone, many shoved off their foundations. Folks in the town are not exactly well off to begin with and most lost everything. Flood insurance it tough to get to begin with and I suspect most people were under-insured if insured at all.

Did the Alden Dow house in Midland make it through the flood, or was it wiped away?

I worked for the power company and got called in years ago to kill the power and pump an entire basement of a bank. The 2 "sprinkler system broke and flooded the basement. The water was so clear and high it was half way up the stairs and people walked down the stairs into the water without paying attention. They were lucky we got the power off before they entered the water and got killed. Even with the water turned off it took us over 6 hours to get the basement pumped.

Mike

The Willis (formerly Sears) tower flooding isn't the worst downtown Chicago flood event. 28 years ago some company putting in a piling in the Chicago river damaged an abandoned largely forgotten underground freight tunnel system and flooded the lower levels of many of the buildings downtown
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_flood

The original house/studio is on high ground, but would be an island. There are many Alden B. Dow-designed houses in Mildand, most of which should have gotten no more than a flooded basement.

The County's GIS system has a layer that can be clicked on to show to predicted flood area resulting from the failure of the Edenville Dam.

[img]https://app.fetchgis.com/?currentMa...ed&opacity64=&printLegendLayers=[/img]

I started in Albright Shores on Wednesday afternoon and worked my way down the east side of the lakes. Looking at what used to be Wixom Lake reduced to a not much more than a stream is something to see. I question whether anyone will be able to re-engineer the Edenville Dam to modern standards, get the required permits to reconstruct it, and be able to fund the project. Sanford looks like a straightforward repair process, but that's questionable as well.

10+ years ago at our old place, a hose broke outside while we were gone for the weekend and flooded the downstairs room to knee level. Of course the breaker box is down there.

On my way to the breaker box, I reached in the water to unplug the alarm clock, and felt tingling the closer I got to the outlet

Decided to leave it alone, then went and turned off the main.

During the remodel we found the hole in the corner for a sump pump that was never installed

Thank you!

You got lucky! The problem is people wade right into the water without even thinking they could get electrocuted. They say hey it isn't that deep and up to the breaker box. Doesn't have to be! Electric water heaters have 240 in most cases less than a foot off the floor and the water seldom blows the breaker. Next likely source is furnace blower motor. Doesn't have to be 240 to kill you 120 is plenty. We've had some nights where it was so bad that not only us but the fire dept. was also out pulling meters. And yes there has been several deaths over the years.

Terrible tragedy. And the Earth reclaims it's own.