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Last Thursday morning, at around 3:30am, I awoke to find that the basement of my home was flooded with about 3 inches of water. Frantic, I woke my wife, Nina, and my daughter, Leah, who together they tried to salvage all that they could from the rising water, whilst I phoned around trying to find a plumber, between bailing buckets of water. After about 20 minutes of bailing I was exhausted, and feeling frustrated, angry I shouted heavenwards, “HELP!”

At around 7:30am the water was still rising, at this point we had close to 1 foot of water – my bailing efforts were obviously futile. However, my wife managed to track down an available plumber who said he would be at our house within the hour. He turned up at 8:30am and immediately pinpointed the problem. The drainage from our house wasn’t working as it should have been and all the water was backing up to the lowest point of the house, a pipe in the stairwell of the basement.

The plumber began work right away trying to resolve the situation and I must admit, although it cost a lot, he went above and beyond to sort us out that very same day. He located the problem, drainage pipes that hadn’t been fitted properly by the builder of the hous. He then tracked down and hired an excavator, and dug a big trench in our front yard to allow the water to begin draining away from the house. And the water just bucketed out of the trench.

Earlier that morning, my wife called an emergency insurance claims adjuster who told us he would be at our house sometime that day. He turned up about 9am and took a quick look around before telling us that we were fully covered by our insurance. This was a major relief, and an amazing answer to prayer, as the work needing to be done is going to cost in the ten’s of thousands; not to mention our damaged personal belongings. Not only that, but the claims adjuster had already contacted an emergency restoration crew who came around that very same day and began ripping out the damaged drywall, baseboards, and carpet.

As I previously said, the flood happened last Thursday, and already the basement has been ripped apart, dried, and prepped for the reno that has to take place. We had around twelve big fans blowing air to dry the place, as well as two huge dehumidifiers. The furnace and hot water tank have already been replaced, and our personal belongings have been inventorized for insurance purposes. The water levels have gone down around the house thanks to the drainage system now working properly. And, the rooms have all been measured for the new carpets.

I don’t know if you’ve ever been through anything like this, but I hope if you did, you had the same kind of service we have been getting. To be honest it’s been awesome, and we have really seen the hand of God at work through the whole process. It makes me feel so humble to know that the God of the universe, the Great I Am is so concerned about us that he takes the time to fully orchestrate the help that we needed.

There have been thousands of homes here in the Fraser Valley (BC) that have been effected by flooding, with many cases much worse than ours. We pray that God will be with them as he was with us.

“Thank you Lord for your provision.”

The St John Family
January, 2009

Picture by G Scholers

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