A Flood of Another Kind

If you’ve been following my blog, you know we’ve been having some wicked weather. But many buildings, especially older ones weren’t made for such heavy freezes. Thankfully, our 1940s bungalow hasn’t had any problems...

But yesterday, Cal and Luke got to church, opened the front doors, and were greeted by a flood. The source? Water pipes in the ceiling of my Sunday school room. Sometime Saturday night, a pipe split. Luke said that he walked into my Sunday school room and saw a gaping hole in the ceiling. Water was gushing through the hole.

First thing, they moved the piano bench to higher ground and then shut off the water main. However, that meant the church had no water. Not even the fellowship hall, which thankfully did not flood. We held worship services in the fellowship hall and even our visitors were game to stick it out through worship and a hastily rearranged luncheon.

The deacons, elders, and trustees spent the afternoon digging wet insulation out of the attic, breaking hunks of ice off attic structures, and shop-vac-ing water while we waited in line for a plumber/repair/water damage group to come. A lot of pipes split Saturday night and the plumbers were swamped too (pun intended). A couple in the church had a water pipe split—thankfully they heard the pipe split and shut off the main before much damage was done to their laundry room.

Today fans and dehumidifiers are running, the heater is cranked, and Cal’s waiting for the insurance company to come and give an assessment: can we get new carpeting, how damaged are the pews, how many walls, ceilings, etc., will have to be replaced?

I guess the good news is that church is getting an unplanned renovation. Hopefully, one that doesn’t include mold and mildew. I can smell the pleasant scent of bleach already.