I was born and raised in a city apartment so you can imagine when I experienced the first flood that inundated our neighborhood. It was the typhoon Yoling which brought a lot of rains. And for the first time, floodwater entered our living room. I was a grade schooler then and I remember having mixed emotion - I was kind of excited but there was also fear with the thought of what would happen if the water would reach the second floor of our home. And since that flood was unexpected, so many of our things got wet like appliances and furniture in the living room. It's good that my mother was quick with the photo album, documents and other paper materials that included my school bag. Until now, I still cannot come to terms that our apartment would be hit by a flood. In my more than 20 years of staying in that apartment, it was only on that occasion when it was flooded. That flood taught us a good lesson in expectations. That there are things you don't expect would occur or come into your life. No matter how well you get prepared to avoid it, when it strikes, it will.
I can relate to this @Corie Henson. We had just purchased our house and I had designated the basement for me for some of my hobbies. I had arranged it so nicely with area carpets and such. One day I went to the basement and it smelled awful and there was about 3 inches of water covering the whole basement. I was overwhelmed by what I saw. Everything I had arranged was ruined. The problem - water coming in from the basement floor drain and very rapidly. It was like some one had turned on a faucet full force. We couldn't stop it. Later there was a knock on the door and it was the city water department apparently there was a water main break and water had backed up in some of the houses on our block. There was an apology for the 'inconvenience' and no compensation for the damage. It was an awful experience.
I think I would have sued the city Von. Someone needed to be responsible for those damages! It wasn't anything you did. I have never been in a flood, but my sisters basement/garage...it is more of a garage than a true basement got flooded one time. The craziest thing was that they found the cat swimming with a mouse in his mouth! Anyway, I think nothing terribly expensive was stored down there fortunately. and the water didn't make it on to the upper levels.
I thought our homeowner's insurance would cover the damage unfortunately the deductible was more than the damage I thought. I had thought about seeking restitution from the city but didn't follow through. It was a learning experience as a first time home buyer.