Flood Update

 

   

Above is our garage a day after the flood showing the three feet of water.  That's a freezer full of meat floating in the foreground.

I have not played any chess since the aforementioned flood except for one correspondence game against an ICCF IM; fortunately two of my three opponents resigned soon after the flood and the IM only moves occasionally.     
     Mostly we have been busy making repairs like replacing drywall, painting, etc. Repairs also included replacing all the electronic components on the furnace and my new (two week old!) hot water tank. Also we had to replace a sump pump that burned out, furniture, floors, etc. We lost two downstairs refrigerators and a freezer plus my car was a total loss when the garage flooded. 
     In addition I have also made some major repairs to our drainage system outside. Even so, that would not have saved us from the storm because there was so much water that our neighbor who has lived in his house for 46 years got water in his basement for the first time. The insurance adjuster estimated repairs at $20,000 plus. Fortunately several years ago I purchased water back up insurance, but that only paid for a fraction of the damage. I learned that 1) a lot of people were not aware that their homeowners insurance does not cover them unless they have water backup insurance and (2) flood insurance is pretty much useless unless you live on a flood plain because in order to collect your house cannot be the only one that suffers flood damage! Although not flood damage, right in the middle of this the refrigerator in the kitchen crapped out when the compressor went bad, so that had to be replaced, too.
     The government is offering low interest long term loans to storm victims, but there is a catch. Isn’t there always? I expect the government to a lot to me and almost nothing for me, so I wasn’t surprised when the guy two houses down told me what happened to him when he applied for a loan to repair his home. He was told he had to hire a contractor to do all the work at 3-4 times what it was going to cost him to do it himself. He told them he only wanted to borrow enough to pay for the materials for repairs and he would do the work himself, but “they” said no, so he didn’t bother with the loan.
     Anyway, there’s finally light at the end of the tunnel.  When things over which you have absolutely no control happen all you can do is accept it and keep plugging away.  Sometimes you get the bear; sometimes the bear gets you. This time the bear got us. The important thing is to stay positive.