I was doing stuff around the house on Sunday morning and looked out the window to see water puddling in the snow on the yard, sidewalk, and driveway. It was too cold for that, but I didn’t think much of it at the time since it was pretty sunny out and sometimes things melt in the sun even when it’s cold. After lunch, I went into the garage, and a stream of water was coming in under the garage door. I opened the door, and an alarming amount of water rushed in. I immediately closed it and took another look at the front yard. There was water everywhere. I concluded that the water main on my street had burst.
I called GJWA, and their emergency number was busy, so I was instructed to call 911. Shortly after that, a police officer came by to assess the situation. He contacted GJWA and told them that it was urgent since the water was entering my house. I went back downstairs and removed the grate from the drain because it was slowing things down a bit. The water was coming in pretty quickly and started to spread to the area with drywall and no drain, so I attempted to divert that flow over to the drain, and after a few attempts, I was successful. I had to go to my parents’ for dinner, so I set up a webcam in the garage so I could monitor it while I was gone. A few hours had passed by that point, but no one had arrived to fix the problem. The influx of water had slowed down a little by the time I left.
I didn’t stay at my parents’ house long due to the issue. I got home a little after 7, and it looks like they just started working. So much for my urgent problem. My street was closed, so I parked in the church lot across the street. The problem was right at the end of the driveway I share with my neighbors. My water got turned off at some point later in the evening. They were still working when I went to bed around 11:30, so I’m not sure when they finished, but I had water when I woke up early this morning to take care of the dogs.
I’m not sure what clean-up is going to look like. The water was muddy, so my garage floor will need to be cleaned, but it’s not terrible. My driveway is another story. It’s mostly covered in snow and ice, but the one section at the end has a couple of inches of mud on it. I’m not sure if the crew who did the work will be coming to clean things up or if I will be stuck with it, but that’s a problem for later (after the snow and ice melt).