Katelyn and Stephanie

Hey ya'll, it's Katelyn, and shit stinks right now – literally! I am currently sitting upstairs with incense and candles but it's not enough against the climbing house temperature and layer of ~shit water~ in my basement.

Yesterday, July 27th, 2022, I woke up at 5am and laid in bed listening to the rain. We live in the Midwest so basements are common, along with their sump pump systems, and well, every other minor leaking issue during heavy storm events, etc.

I made my way downstairs to check on everything and before getting to the bottom step I could see the w a t e r. I immediately woke Stephanie up and we made our way back downstairs - we HAD to pull out her personal DJ equipment.

I grabbed her new white RCF speakers, purchased last year as an upgrade for her wedding events. After that, like a train, we grabbed the rest of her equipment set up then continued further into the basement to check the larger space holding our stored personal belongings and the laundry room.

The whole basement was flooded. Our basement was under 12-18 inches of shit water and in the center of it all was a steady fountain of incoming water from our main line/drain.

From 5am to 8am we watched as the water only continued to climb. Between 9 and 10am we collected outside with some other neighbors who were all experiencing their own basement flooding issues. Ours was by far the worst. As the rain steadily decreased, the basement drained out and with assistance of the sump pump, we could walk around the basement again by noon.

The house and our personal belongings were severally impacted. Currently, we have no working HVAC or hot water systems. In addition, we’ve had to cut off half our living space due to sanitation concerns as we bring things upstairs, and also to cut off all pets from venturing downstairs. A lot of our clothes, and a majority of mine, are sitting in bags soaking wet. We no longer have a working washer and dryer.

Yesterday, we dragged everything we could out of the basement; carpets, light furniture, boxes that hadn’t been unpacked since moving in, and boxes full of personal belongings from our childhood. I’ve unfortunately discovered that there isn’t much you can do with items after they’ve been submerged in water.

I’ve opened a claim on my house insurance and Roto-Rooter has already stopped by to confirm that this was a main line sewer overflow issue, and to snake our main line since it was likely clogged after all the debris.

We’re currently waiting on water restoration services, sanitary services, and HVAC system services. Roto-Rooter tackled our hot water heater and will be installing a new one this Friday.

In order to get our house back in working order, thousands of dollars will need to be spent out of pocket before we possibly see any insurance reimbursement. I hope that you can understand we’re only asking for whatever help you can give, if any.

All funds will be immediately placed towards all current expenses: Roto-Rooter main line service, all water and sanitary restoration services, Airbnb 2-night stay ($73 per night), and every misc. item we keep needing to go to the store too. Stephanie also has equipment that needs to be replaced before her events next month.

We have so much more work to do and no schedule on when we’ll have a working HVAC system or even the layer of shit sterilized from our basement.

Thank you for all the support and love,

Katelyn and Stephanie