My family is all safe and I just wanted to share.
(Free Rocks)
I brought my oldest daughter to Gymnastics in town at 5:00, it was bright and sunny where I was. My wife was supposed to bring my youngest daughter to swimming lessons in town at 6.
During the day: A friend who owns a mowing business, mowed our lawn and weed whacked our yard as a thank you for lending him some stuff.
(Before)
5:00pm - I get a call from my wife saying it is raining hard at the house and was not sure she will be going to bring my daughter to swim lessons.
5:15 - She called again; rain is coming through an unfinished window very hard. She has never seen rain like this. It is sunny where I am a few miles away.
5:30 - Lawn started washing away. We have a culvert which has in the past got plugged and done some damage but not much.
5:45 - Wife called to say she is trapped and that water is hitting the house. At this point I leave to go and get her.
6:00 - I get to the house and park on the side of the road down the street and walk through the water to get her. She can't find one of our cats which goes outside a lot. I walk into the house and my two year old is in the living room telling me that our lawn is gone.
6:30 - My cat that we thought was gone came strolling downstairs and is fine. We shut off the propane and power. We grabbed some spare cloths and walked through the water to my car. By this time the fire department is here along with rescue crews, and they have closed down the road I live on.
Night: My oldest stayed overnight at a friends house and we stayed at the house of my wife's co-workers with my youngest.
Next Day: I had to go present in the morning (I figured the extra cash would be needed so I chose not to cancel). My wife took the day off to assess the house, the kids went to daycare.
When we left there was a heavy stream of water was hitting the side of the house, but in the end the house did not appear to have sustained any damage. My lawn on the other hand is beyond a mess. The garage has about 2 inches of mud. I have a shed that the water level appeared to have gotten to about 2 feet of standing water.
My father stopped in while we were gone and apparently was interviewed by WCAX the local tv station. Story Link
We called the insurance company and they have said that our home owners insurance does not cover earth movement. I called several other agencies and unless their is a FEMA request by the state, they can do nothing.
We have many friends who we are thankful for who stopped by and offered help.
When the girls came home and saw the devastation they made the best of it and started sorting the rocks into colors and figuring out a business plan for "selling them for free", to quote my daughter.
All in all everyone is safe, the house has not sustained any damage.
(Before we left)
(Someone who was driving by)
(Aftermath)
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