No, the bookstore didn’t flood – but our house did! That’s why we closed early yesterday and will be opening late today: at noon.

We have a creek in our front yard. We were told that it was a stormwater creek, that MSD had an easement to maintain it. Not that we’ve ever seen them out here, in 2 ½ years. In fact, my neighbors across the street told us that the creek used to flood a lot, before MSD “fixed” it. That tells me that MSD is responsible, yes?

I Tweeted to MSD yesterday. They claimed zero responsibility for a “creek,” but they get points for sending me a DM and inviting me to call. So I did. Still no responsibility. Apparently, it’s on the homeowner to maintain stormwater creeks in St. Louis County – except we pay a fee every month for this; and MSD took over this job back in the 90s. And the guy I talked to, Lance somebody, had no idea where I live.

I pointed out that we DO keep our section of the creek clear of debris and flowing, partly because it’s fun, yes, and because it’s necessary – and because MSD never comes around to do it. Lance says they have no money. I wonder how much their executive director and the other (superfluous?) admins are paid? At any rate, if there’s a backup downstream because a homeowner DIDN’T clear his section, what am I supposed to do? Hike down there and knock on doors? Pretty sure the stuff disappears into a pipe in the ground, anyway, and not entirely certain where it goes.

Oh, I’m not finished looking into all this…

No, before you ask, we don’t have flood insurance – we’re in a “low to moderate risk” area and the creek hasn’t come up this high in ten years. But get this: we’re in a rather low spot, and on the hill behind us is a subdivision. All of their runoff comes down the hill – in the winter, when the trees are bare, you can see pipes sticking out of the hill – and into our yard. That’s where a big part of the flooding occurred.

At the highest part of our backyard, for years, there has been a continuous mud hole; Missouri American Water says it’s not their problem, even though, technically, it’s their property. MSD says the same thing. No one takes responsibility to fix it. Even a small rain turns our side yard into a marsh. Ninety percent of that is due to runoff from that subdivision.

At any rate, I took pics and video of the water yesterday. It went over our bridge, over the road, over the driveway. It was as high as the axles on my truck at one point. It washed away half of the walls around one garden (leaving the plants intact, I might add!). We found most of the pieces of the wall… We have quite a few branches/posts/beams/junk in the yard – and creek.

Three inches of water in the kitchen and bathroom. Saturated carpet in our bedroom and the guest room. About half the carpet in Carson’s room is wet, where it shares a wall with our room, and it came in, maybe half an inch tops, to part of the living room. Nothing in the rest of the living room except a little by the front door, and nothing in the dining room or office. About 2 feet into the garage, but only an inch deep.

Allow me to explain a little more, and picture this: draw a line in your head – that’s the creek. Then 10 feet or so of grass; another 10 feet or so of driveway, and three more feet of grass. Next, the house.

Along the front of the house is our room, Carson’s room, two sections of living room, office, and garage. In the back, guest room, bathroom, kitchen, dining, and another section of living room, and the garage. Got that? Hmmm. Maybe I can draw it…

Now, does it look like more came from the creek? Or from the back of the house? And I mean the part that came INTO the house! By the way, the top of the pic is the original creek, the bottom is the back of the house. And yes, it looks like a kindergartener drew it, thanks.

My point here is that THIS is why the store closed early and is opening late. We’re trying to dry out. And looking at carpet-replacement options. Sigh.