Down Came the Rain Again and Again and Again

It's been raining like crazy here in the Chicagoland area.  I was about to type Chicago, but I forget that I'm in the 'burbs and the suburb I happen to live in has a history of flooding.  Luckily, we live near a major intersection and our street does not flood.  Unluckily for my sister, her street is completely flooded and the water level on the sidewalk an hour or so ago was ankle deep.  She told me that the water was half way up her driveway.

All this weather is compliments of Hurricane Ike.  Even though Ike is down in Texas, the impact to the weather can be felt all the way in Illinois.  There are many things that frustrate me about having a house.  There's the cost of upkeep and the fact that there is always a possibility that the basement will flood.  Then, there is the fact that we purchased my parents' house and a lot (and I mean a lot) of their stuff is still in our basement.

Part of me wants to lie and say that the basement flooded and all their stuff is ruined, but I find it hard to lie.  On the other hand, there is more of their junk filling up the basement than our stuff.  Tempting - so tempting.  Normal logic would tell me to tell them to take their stuff out of the basement, but I've tried that and it hasn't helped.  If anything it made things more tense.

So let me ask you - would you just tell them that the basement flooded and their stuff was gone?  Seriously, I am asking.  The stuff that is down there are things that are worth nothing (mostly paper) in the worst garage sale.  So, really, what would you do?

Comments

[Amy]

I hate to burst your bubble, but this isn't Hurricane Ike speaking to us yet. This is just the storm that came from Kansas City. Hurricane Ike stuff will hit us on Tuesday. Fun, right? I've got a basement that I need to go mop up now. We're getting water.

[Asianmommy]

I would ask them to please get their stuff out of the basement because you're afraid that the basement will flood during the storm and you wouldn't want their stuff to get ruined. :)