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Hi Guys,
Unfortunately I got hit very hard with the remnants of storm Ida yesterday and was able to access the damage today. While the basement received a couple inches of water, there was no damage there. However, my detached garage and retaining wall were another matter. Let me explain what happened and then I will need your advice on what to do with the mint packaged cars of my collection which were exposed to storm water. And any other advice you would like to offer.
I live in a corner house with a dead end on the left side (as you look at the house). We are the only house on the right side of the dead end. The street in front of my house ends once it intersects with the street on the side of my house, while the street on the side of my house continues through the neighborhood. At the end of the dead end is a barricade and a chain link fence behind it which stretches across the road. The driveway of my house has its entrance at the end of the dead end (right at the barricade) and slopes down to my garage. Beyond the chain link fence is the parking lot for an office building. The parking lot sits at a slightly lower elevation than the street and is at the same level as my garage. Except for the parking lot, my house is located at the lowest point in the neighborhood.
Before there was an office building, there used to be a golf course there. This is important.
When we get a storm, especially a big storm, the water runs down from the rest of the neighborhood, overwhelms the sewer drains up the street, and heads straight down the dead end, even turning the corner from the street in front of my house into the dead end. When the neighborhood was built and the golf course was at the end of the dead end, the water would rush through the end of the street and onto the golf course. There was no barricade, chain link fence and/or trees to block the flow of water. There is no sewer drain on the dead end to siphon off any water.
Fast forward to today, some 50 years or more later. Trees have grown up across the entire dead end. A chain link fence was installed around 1966 during office construction and never removed. Now tons of leaves and debris rush down the dead end during any storm, many getting caught in the fencing and blocking more and more of the opening which allows the water to flow into the parking lot and away from my house and the house across the street.
Last year I alerted my councilman and the public works department that I feared all the debris caught in the fencing could cause the water during a bad storm to back up and with no where to go, would head left and right, jump over the curb onto my property and the property across the street. And with both our driveways sloping down from the street, the threat of flooding the garage was a real concern. I was told it wasn't an issue, there was plenty of room for the water to flow and there was no need to clean out the debris. Which they never did.
Just as an aside, the office building folks are not happy about all the storm water running down into their parking lot. Especially after yesterday.
Then came yesterday. The exact scenario I warned about came to pass. There was more water flowing down the dead end than could pass through the restricted openings. With no where to go, the water rushed down my driveway and the driveway across the street. The water rush was so powerful it obliterated a concrete block wall my dad built 60 years ago, sending blocks as much as 200 feet through the parking lot. This rushing water also flooded my garage. I do not know the exact depth the water got to inside my garage, but there was enough to knock over stacked rubber tubs and soak everything on the lowest shelf of each rack.
This morning, people from all over the neighborhood came down to the dead end to reteive their garbage cans. And there are still a half dozen sitting there.
Now comes the slot car part. I store a lot of my slot car stuff in the garage. I made sure everything in the garage would be safe from at least 4-6 inches of standing water, with the top of the rubber tubs, which hold MIB packaged slot cars, at least a foot or more off the ground. Everything sits on at least 2-4 inches of blocks.
The water evidently was either so deep or had so much force that it toppled the stacks of rubber tubs. The tubs were stacked five high and the bottom tub of each stack took on water. The tubs contained packaged cars mostly from Tyco, Tomy and Lifelike. As I started the cleanup today and went through each of the bottom tubs, most of the packaged cars in the tubs which took on water had water which got inside the packaging. I also had six master cases of JL pullback cars sitting on the lowest shelf and each of those took on water. And with the JL cars in cardboard packaging, those packages are ruined.
As a collector, I was proud of having all these cars in pristine condition and still in the package. I had everything cataloged, neatly stacked and waiting for the day I either opened them up for display or decided to sell he duplicates. However, I now believe it is imperative I remove from the package every car which took on any type of moisture. It is something I thought I would do in the future once I had the proper display cabinets but it seems fate has forced my hand. As a collector, I realize removing the car from its original package will diminish its value but I believe in order to save these cars, they need to be removed as quickly as possible.
So I ask for your advice. Should all the cars be removed from their packaging?
As to the reason the garage got flooded, I will be dealing with the township to seek compensation, not just for the wall (which I understand is not covered by my home owner's policy) but for the massive cleanup I will need to do in the garage (think of all the mud which came in and all the shelves I will need to move out and back in), as well as for the damage to cars I will never be able to replace. Having warned the township of the exact scenario which occurred, they will need to address why the situation was never corrected. If that takes a lawsuit, that is the direction I will need to go.
The township is now on the spot to explain exactly what their plan was for handling storm runoff on the dead end. Was it their "design" to have the water continue to run through the dead end even after the golf course was gone? If so, they have a lot of explaining to do to the office management as the flood waters from the dead end flooded their first floor and knocked out their generators causing them to close the building. And if that was the plan, what was their maintenance schedule for keeping the dead end clear of debris?
Or was the plan to ignore the dead end and if the water backed up, let the home owners deal with it?
Having just lost my mother a few weeks ago, for the first time in 15 years I was no longer caring for either parent...a responsibility I was honored to perform. Once all her affairs were handled, I could get back to doing some of the things I put off for all those years, including getting back into the hobby and attending shows. The damage to so much of my collection at this time to a completely preventable disaster has really hit me hard.
Sorry for the long read but it has been a tough couple of weeks.
Thanks...Joe
Unfortunately I got hit very hard with the remnants of storm Ida yesterday and was able to access the damage today. While the basement received a couple inches of water, there was no damage there. However, my detached garage and retaining wall were another matter. Let me explain what happened and then I will need your advice on what to do with the mint packaged cars of my collection which were exposed to storm water. And any other advice you would like to offer.
I live in a corner house with a dead end on the left side (as you look at the house). We are the only house on the right side of the dead end. The street in front of my house ends once it intersects with the street on the side of my house, while the street on the side of my house continues through the neighborhood. At the end of the dead end is a barricade and a chain link fence behind it which stretches across the road. The driveway of my house has its entrance at the end of the dead end (right at the barricade) and slopes down to my garage. Beyond the chain link fence is the parking lot for an office building. The parking lot sits at a slightly lower elevation than the street and is at the same level as my garage. Except for the parking lot, my house is located at the lowest point in the neighborhood.
Before there was an office building, there used to be a golf course there. This is important.
When we get a storm, especially a big storm, the water runs down from the rest of the neighborhood, overwhelms the sewer drains up the street, and heads straight down the dead end, even turning the corner from the street in front of my house into the dead end. When the neighborhood was built and the golf course was at the end of the dead end, the water would rush through the end of the street and onto the golf course. There was no barricade, chain link fence and/or trees to block the flow of water. There is no sewer drain on the dead end to siphon off any water.
Fast forward to today, some 50 years or more later. Trees have grown up across the entire dead end. A chain link fence was installed around 1966 during office construction and never removed. Now tons of leaves and debris rush down the dead end during any storm, many getting caught in the fencing and blocking more and more of the opening which allows the water to flow into the parking lot and away from my house and the house across the street.
Last year I alerted my councilman and the public works department that I feared all the debris caught in the fencing could cause the water during a bad storm to back up and with no where to go, would head left and right, jump over the curb onto my property and the property across the street. And with both our driveways sloping down from the street, the threat of flooding the garage was a real concern. I was told it wasn't an issue, there was plenty of room for the water to flow and there was no need to clean out the debris. Which they never did.
Just as an aside, the office building folks are not happy about all the storm water running down into their parking lot. Especially after yesterday.
Then came yesterday. The exact scenario I warned about came to pass. There was more water flowing down the dead end than could pass through the restricted openings. With no where to go, the water rushed down my driveway and the driveway across the street. The water rush was so powerful it obliterated a concrete block wall my dad built 60 years ago, sending blocks as much as 200 feet through the parking lot. This rushing water also flooded my garage. I do not know the exact depth the water got to inside my garage, but there was enough to knock over stacked rubber tubs and soak everything on the lowest shelf of each rack.
This morning, people from all over the neighborhood came down to the dead end to reteive their garbage cans. And there are still a half dozen sitting there.
Now comes the slot car part. I store a lot of my slot car stuff in the garage. I made sure everything in the garage would be safe from at least 4-6 inches of standing water, with the top of the rubber tubs, which hold MIB packaged slot cars, at least a foot or more off the ground. Everything sits on at least 2-4 inches of blocks.
The water evidently was either so deep or had so much force that it toppled the stacks of rubber tubs. The tubs were stacked five high and the bottom tub of each stack took on water. The tubs contained packaged cars mostly from Tyco, Tomy and Lifelike. As I started the cleanup today and went through each of the bottom tubs, most of the packaged cars in the tubs which took on water had water which got inside the packaging. I also had six master cases of JL pullback cars sitting on the lowest shelf and each of those took on water. And with the JL cars in cardboard packaging, those packages are ruined.
As a collector, I was proud of having all these cars in pristine condition and still in the package. I had everything cataloged, neatly stacked and waiting for the day I either opened them up for display or decided to sell he duplicates. However, I now believe it is imperative I remove from the package every car which took on any type of moisture. It is something I thought I would do in the future once I had the proper display cabinets but it seems fate has forced my hand. As a collector, I realize removing the car from its original package will diminish its value but I believe in order to save these cars, they need to be removed as quickly as possible.
So I ask for your advice. Should all the cars be removed from their packaging?
As to the reason the garage got flooded, I will be dealing with the township to seek compensation, not just for the wall (which I understand is not covered by my home owner's policy) but for the massive cleanup I will need to do in the garage (think of all the mud which came in and all the shelves I will need to move out and back in), as well as for the damage to cars I will never be able to replace. Having warned the township of the exact scenario which occurred, they will need to address why the situation was never corrected. If that takes a lawsuit, that is the direction I will need to go.
The township is now on the spot to explain exactly what their plan was for handling storm runoff on the dead end. Was it their "design" to have the water continue to run through the dead end even after the golf course was gone? If so, they have a lot of explaining to do to the office management as the flood waters from the dead end flooded their first floor and knocked out their generators causing them to close the building. And if that was the plan, what was their maintenance schedule for keeping the dead end clear of debris?
Or was the plan to ignore the dead end and if the water backed up, let the home owners deal with it?
Having just lost my mother a few weeks ago, for the first time in 15 years I was no longer caring for either parent...a responsibility I was honored to perform. Once all her affairs were handled, I could get back to doing some of the things I put off for all those years, including getting back into the hobby and attending shows. The damage to so much of my collection at this time to a completely preventable disaster has really hit me hard.
Sorry for the long read but it has been a tough couple of weeks.
Thanks...Joe
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