Still wading through the debris left from the storm on Friday. Got about 5”-7” inches. My street is littered with basement casualties. It’s neighborhood wide, and beyond. Everything smells like @#$%&.

I got 15” in my basement, power out from 3am to 9pm, cell phone out from morning til evening. Driving around at 5am like I’m in some future dystopian sci-fi movie only to discover Mejiers isn’t open 24/7 anymore. Got sump pump at hardware store at 6am, and neighbors electricity and then rented a bigger one after 8 and was relatively sewer water free by afternoon. Now have no shower or hot water (basement location), no AC, and have to clean out a hoarders basement full of ...along with replacing $$$ of appliances, etc.

And the car was flooded too.

So my question is. Some FireWire drives got submerged. Any suggestions? I’ve rinsed them in clean water. I’ve got time to wait. Paper towels, rice and plastic bags? Instant rice, or??

Priorities.

CW2V

Rice doesn't work.

Dirty water? submerge it in clean water to wash it out. Repeat several times with new water, the last time or two with distilled water.

Then submerge it in denatured alcohol (you can get it at home depot, lowes) and move/shake/vibrate it. The alcohol will displace the water and evaporate in just minutes leaving everything dry and (hopefully) clean.

Will it work? maybe - maybe not. But you have nothing to lose.

---

“No persons are more frequently wrong, than those who will not admit they are wrong.” -- François de La Rochefoucauld

"Those who cannot accept the past are condemned to revise it." -- Geo. Mathias

The German word for contraceptive is “Schwangerschaftsverhütungsmittel”. By the time you finished saying that, it’s too late

So sorry you’re going through this. Glad you’re in one piece.

Ombligo’s advice sounds round to me.
I’d probably crack them open if it can be done, because I’d try to get them going once to salvage any data, and be done with them.

Condolences on the emergency. I would need to throw out hundreds of pounds of stuff if I got 15" of water in my house (yes, another hoarder).

Maybe an ozone ( O³ ) generator... Note: they can damage plastic, delicate fabrics, and cause breathing issues.

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In tha 360. MRF User Map

Quote
Ombligo
Rice doesn't work.

Dirty water? submerge it in clean water to wash it out. Repeat several times with new water, the last time or two with distilled water.

Then submerge it in denatured alcohol (you can get it at home depot, lowes) and move/shake/vibrate it. The alcohol will displace the water and evaporate in just minutes leaving everything dry and (hopefully) clean.

Will it work? maybe - maybe not. But you have nothing to lose.

This is what I would do, only I'd use Everclear if it's readily available. Purer than denatured. Also, don't try to use the drives until the drying process is complete.

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Quote
Ombligo
Rice doesn't work.

Dirty water? submerge it in clean water to wash it out. Repeat several times with new water, the last time or two with distilled water.

Then submerge it in denatured alcohol (you can get it at home depot, lowes) and move/shake/vibrate it. The alcohol will displace the water and evaporate in just minutes leaving everything dry and (hopefully) clean.

Will it work? maybe - maybe not. But you have nothing to lose.

This is what I would do, only I'd use Everclear if it's readily available. Purer than denatured. Also, don't try to use the drives until the drying process is complete. This process worked for me on an iPod and an iPhone.

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Didn't know you were a Michigander! I'm north of Detroit and on high ground so I've had no issues...yet. More rain is forecast all week long. A month ago we were doing rain dances and local TV stations reported that we had a five inch rain deficit. We've made that up and and then some!

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Disclaimer: This post is checked for correct spelling, punctuation, and grammar. Any attempts at humor are solely the responsibility of the author and bear no claim that any and all readers will approve or appreciate said attempt at humor.
My name is DP, and I approve this message.

"Show me the man and I’ll show you the crime."- Lavrentiy Beria

Yeesh! Sorry to hear you're having flooding issues. We didn't get nearly the rain you downstaters have, (although, we've had our share this past week) and here in northern MI it's very sandy soil. Most rainfall gets sucked down into the sand with virtually no flooding.

Hang in there, most possessions can be replaced. You will get through this in one piece.

---

Mr. Lahey: A lot of people, don’t know how to drink. They drink against the grain of the liquor. And when you drink against the grain of the liquor? You lose.

Randy: What the @#$%& are you talking about?

No comfort to you, but basement flooding in the suburbs of Detroit is not a new phenomenon; happened to ours in the 50s.

Ouch, so sorry to hear that. Unfortunately, your homeowners insurance won’t cover this type of flooding.

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Saint Cloud, Minnesota, where the weather is wonderful even when it isn't.

Quote
Speedy
Ouch, so sorry to hear that. Unfortunately, your homeowners insurance won’t cover this type of flooding.

Homeowners insurance company's seem quite adept at getting out of paying for any damage water related.

I don't see how flash flood/heavy rain is any different of an occurrence of nature than a hail storm or tornado.

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C(-)ris
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sorry about all that.

I know tons of people who had flooded basements in the Detroit area. It's a really widespread problem.

Back in '14, we had a similar situation with other freeways in the Detroit area with flooding after heavy rains. Investigations revealed some surprises, including pumping stations not working because some of the stations had been broken into and the wires and some motors stolen by scrappers! Plus, they were built back in the 60s and early 70s with a life span of 30 years...

When we talk about modernizing infrastructure, we need to update the unseen parts of the whole system, too. One problem encountered these past couple of days was when pumps were brought in to pump out the water that was standing, there was no place for it to go, so it came back onto the freeway!

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Disclaimer: This post is checked for correct spelling, punctuation, and grammar. Any attempts at humor are solely the responsibility of the author and bear no claim that any and all readers will approve or appreciate said attempt at humor.
My name is DP, and I approve this message.

"Show me the man and I’ll show you the crime."- Lavrentiy Beria

Quote
Speedy
Ouch, so sorry to hear that. Unfortunately, your homeowners insurance won’t cover this type of flooding.

One needs to read their policy thoroughly and understand terminology.

Flooding is water overflowing or leaving it's natural boundaries. Then there is sewer backup, sheet flow, water run off and water leakage.

Friend suffered water damage to below grade, not basement and reported it as flooding. Insurance company denied the claim. Told them to change the reporting to water run off as there is no body of water that overflowed it's boundaries and the carrier picked up the claim.

I was wondering if my fellow Michiganders were OK.

I am in Detroit proper and basement didn't flood any more than usual (small puddle of a few inches from run off near front porch that needs some brick work for what used to be a coal chute that runs into cold room under porch).

My big problem was Saturday morning. My ex-girlfriend need help getting her handicapped mom from downtown Detroit near Eastern Market up to Ypsilanti for the sister/daughter funeral (she recently died of Covid - refused the shot and the ventilator).

I know my way around Detroit proper - and heard the problem area was near I-94 near Lodge and I=75 took the Lodge - came up before Midtown and took surface streets and got there ok (one street had inches of water).

Plan was to take Michigan Ave up to Ypsi but it was blocked and flooded in several areas. Tried to go over to Grand River - worked well but was crowded with others avoiding the freeway. Was eventually able to het on i=96 for a minute but saw cars going the wrong way back from a flooded area. back up to Grand River.

Eventually got back on 96 - took that to 275 to 94 past the airport and made it.

Even on the Freeways where the water receded - still saw drowned cars along the sides of the roads. People got too comfortable and were speeding and crashed into cars that died in lanes of traffic in a few spots.



Running joke on Facebook is we don't have money for the infrastructure money to keep the freeway pumps running to avoid flooding but we have miles and miles of pretty BIKE LANES all over the city.....





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/28/2021 11:50PM by ArtP.

Yikes, Art!

Some of those areas of I-94 suck pretty bad even when they aren't flooded.

Quote
ArtP
I was wondering if my fellow Michiganders were OK.

I am in Detroit proper and basement didn't flood any more than usual (small puddle of a few inches from run off near front porch that needs some brick work for what used to be a coal chute that runs into cold room under porch).

My big problem was Saturday morning. My ex-girlfriend need help getting her handicapped mom from downtown Detroit near Eastern Market up to Ypsilanti for the sister/daughter funeral (she recently died of Covid - refused the shot and the ventilator).

I know my way around Detroit proper - and heard the problem area was near I-94 near Lodge and I=75 took the Lodge - came up before Midtown and took surface streets and got there ok (one street had inches of water).

Plan was to take Michigan Ave up to Ypsi but it was blocked and flooded in several areas. Tried to go over to Grand River - worked well but was crowded with others avoiding the freeway. Was eventually able to het on i=96 for a minute but saw cars going the wrong way back from a flooded area. back up to Grand River.

Eventually got back on 96 - took that to 275 to 94 past the airport and made it.

Even on the Freeways where the water receded - still saw drowned cars along the sides of the roads. People got too comfortable and were speeding and crashed into cars that died in lanes of traffic in a few spots.



Running joke on Facebook is we don't have money for the infrastructure money to keep the freeway pumps running to avoid flooding but we have miles and miles of pretty BIKE LANES all over the city.....

That trucker is say, “Why the @#$%& do you four wheelers have to block the whole road!”

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Saint Cloud, Minnesota, where the weather is wonderful even when it isn't.