Big Rain (Austin: renter, tenant, licensed)

[austinliving]

6.35" of rain at our house since Sat.

2.91" fell last night.

NW Austin...

[10scoachrick]

As an update, even with the overnight rain and the slight blast around lunchtime today, Parmer/Avery Ranch got only 1/3" in the last 24 hours! Of course, nobody thought to turn off the sprinklers for the common areas and commercial landscape even after the soaking we got yesterday.

[A-Tex]

According to our rain gauge, we received just a smidge under three inches overnight and in a burst late this morning.

[austin-steve]

A house I own in Oak Hill caught fire from a lightening strike while it was simultaneously flooding at 2:30AM. I got there around 3AM and Scenic Brook Dr.was like a river. I walked through a foot deep of water to get to the house. There were 4 firetrucks there. Luckily they arrived very quickly and it wasn't a total burndown but instead limited to two bedrooms burned in the attic above, plus smoke, water and flood damage. My tenant has to move out for repairs.

When the firemen were rolling up gear at the end, an older supervisor(ish) guy said "well you should have been here in 1991 ..." to which the other fireman bursted out in mocking "oh! 1991 again huh? ... (mocking) 'you should have seen 1991' ...".

I get the feeling they'd heard the 1991 stories before.

But later I thought about 1991 and realized that in fact I managed a small apartment complex in Rosedale at the time and it flooded big time. Me and some of the tenants were taking turns in the middle of the night with pick axes and shovels trying to dig a trench through the asphalt parking lot to divert/drain the water flow away from the units. It didn't work and we finally gave up.

I do think these flooding drenchers are a lot more frequent now though, with dryer dry spells in between.

Steve

[scm53]

Originally Posted by austin-steve

... Scenic Brook Dr.was like a river.

When the firemen were rolling up gear at the end, an older supervisor(ish) guy said "well you should have been here in 1991 ..." to which the other fireman bursted out in mocking "oh! 1991 again huh? ... (mocking) 'you should have seen 1991' ...".

Steve

I lived in Scenic Brook in '91 - and yes, several homes flooded then. They are in the 100 year food plain. It was about four days before Christmas.

[JT-3]

Originally Posted by austin-steve

A house I own in Oak Hill caught fire from a lightening strike while it was simultaneously flooding at 2:30AM.
Steve

What a mess, luckily nobody was hurt?

[G Grasshopper]

Very sorry about the flood/fire in your house, Steve. Does the family need assistance?

[ATX Wahine]

Oh crap-o, Steve. We live a mile or so from Scenic Brook Dr. Sorry to hear about the house, glad the tenant(s) are OK. They're lucky to have you as their landlord.

We have about 100 feet of a tributary of Williamson Creek running through our back yard and it rose nearly five feet. It's already dropped back significantly, but I can imagine what a mess it creates downstream.

[scm53]

Originally Posted by austin-steve

A house I own in Oak Hill caught fire from a lightening strike while it was simultaneously flooding at 2:30AM.

Steve

Steve - is this your tenant?

[austin-steve]

Originally Posted by scm53

Steve - is this your tenant?

Yes, the news crews came and interviewed him, though some seemed confused as to whether he owns or rents. He has no renter's insurance (our leases mandate tenants keep renters insurance - we have no way to enforce it though), so I'm just giving back the deposit and rent from this month to help out, then will rehab the house and either sell it or rent again. He has a lot of friends luckily, and they've helped him clear out.

As an aside, when your house burns, all the ambulance chasers come out of the woodwork. They monitor the fire department feed for "leads". That's why news people showed up, and also several construction contractors dropped by and also called me direct offering their services.

To which I responded, "No thanks, I got my own people on it", but some are pretty persistent. One showed up from 800-Boardup all ready to start working if I would just sign a "work authorization" which amounted to a blank check and open-ended agreement. They got a call directly from a fireman the guy told me, so I wonder if some sort of kickback system is in place in exchange for a quick tip.

I've never had a house catch fire so it's my first exposure to this whole world of fire chasers looking for work. I'm sure some are legit, but they are generally catching people at a very bad moment when they may not be thinking clearly. I'm not sure of the regulatory environment that governs this, but it seems pretty fast and loose.

Steve