# Bad weekend



## midwestwine (Jul 18, 2011)

Friday night we headed out of town to our lake house for the weekend. Saturday morning I get a call from my neighbors. Saying that a water main broke in our neighborhood and flooded the sewer main. Every house on our block got flooded with sewage. They said they broke in my house and saved my cats from the basement. So I hoped in my truck and raced home to find 2 feet of sewage in my basement  over the top of everyone of my carboys.4 six gallon, 2 five gallon and 2 three gallon carboys all full of wine aging. plus all three of my primary's. Made me want to cry some of that wine has been aging almost a year!


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## djrockinsteve (Jul 18, 2011)

unbelievable! what are the odds

insurance would cover that but at what price after all that work,


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## midwestwine (Jul 19, 2011)

Well on the bright side now I can remodel the basement and build a wine making room and wine seller!!


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## Julie (Jul 19, 2011)

Wow Matt,

That really stinks, oh sorry. I am glad to see you are not letting this stop you. Good luck with the remodeling and post some pics when it is done.


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## jeepingchick (Jul 19, 2011)

OMG!!! Thats horirble  So sorry for the news man!


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## SpoiledRotten (Jul 19, 2011)

Yep, that kind of news and sight when you get home would be really bad. So sorry for the catastrophe in your home and neighborhood. Keep us posted.
As stated by me before, I'm envious of you guys/gals with basements, but there is a negative side to everything. Keep the head up!


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## PCharles (Jul 19, 2011)

*Winemaking Catastrophe*

I've now read of two winemaking catastrophies in one week! Yikes!!!

I hate to hear about this second disaster. I have a basement, but live on the side of a hill. I'd need an ark if mine flooded like that here.

I'm interested to see how insurance will cover this one. Will they just cover the kits and equipment, or will the cover the estimated value of the wine? 

I'm happy to see you have a good attitude and are looking forward to your new winemaking room. I look forward to seeing pics of the new place.

Paul


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## Tom (Jul 19, 2011)

I hope all these problems STOP before any more of us have it happen to them.


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## ibglowin (Jul 19, 2011)

That sucks big time. So sorry for the loss.....

That might just top Sarah's broken table for worst disaster in a winery. How could you ever use one of those carboys again and feel "safe" even with a good cleaning/sanitizing.....


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## Runningwolf (Jul 19, 2011)

Matt sorry to hear of your loss. It's tough to lose all that wine but clean up is easy as all you have to do is dump it and clean/sanitize everything real good. What about your appliances like the furnace, washer & dryer, etc. Those are not so easy to clean and replace. Did you have furniture or carpeting in the basement? Were your walls finished with paneling or drywall? I feel sad for your loss but I have a feeling it may be even worse then your letting on. Good Luck and keep us posted.


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## robie (Jul 19, 2011)

I feel your pain. Lots of work down the drain. Hope your home will be OK.


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## midwestwine (Jul 19, 2011)

Runningwolf said:


> Matt sorry to hear of your loss. It's tough to lose all that wine but clean up is easy as all you have to do is dump it and clean/sanitize everything real good. What about your appliances like the furnace, washer & dryer, etc. Those are not so easy to clean and replace. Did you have furniture or carpeting in the basement? Were your walls finished with paneling or drywall? I feel sad for your loss but I have a feeling it may be even worse then your letting on. Good Luck and keep us posted.



The basement was completely finished the city sent a crew out to clean it out. Their saying it may be about $25,000 to just reconstruct it. We had about $15,000 of contents it. So we will see how much they cover. But I'm still more pissed about my wine.


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## ibglowin (Jul 19, 2011)

True dat.......!



midwestwine said:


> But I'm still more pissed about my wine.


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## midwestwine (Jul 19, 2011)

Pic of some of my carboys


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## Runningwolf (Jul 19, 2011)

Matt that is a damn shame. I hope you have plenty of help. I wish I was close by to give you a hand. Do you have a drain in the floor so you can hose everything down?


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## midwestwine (Jul 19, 2011)

Runningwolf said:


> Matt that is a damn shame. I hope you have plenty of help. I wish I was close by to give you a hand. Do you have a drain in the floor so you can hose everything down?



We do have a floor drain but their is a chance it could flood again. The city can not fix the sewer main yet because a big church is 10 feet off the main. the church lost its foundation and is caving in. They have to shore up the church before they can dig. Right now they have an emergency pump they took off the Missouri river dike. pumping from a man hole with a 1000 foot of 8" hose to another man hole past the problem. They took most of the hoses from the other pumps along the river. The even worse problem is with the Missouri flooding all the storm sewer are all close at the river. If we get a heavy rain they wont be able to pump the water over the dikes. Could turn into a big mess for many people.


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## Runningwolf (Jul 19, 2011)

Matt you can get a test plug at the plumbing store that will block off your drain, preventing water from coming back into it again.


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## Minnesotamaker (Jul 19, 2011)

What a shame. I have my hobby in the basement too; reminds me of the risks out there that we normally don't ever think about. I do have a sump pump in the wine room, I wonder if it would pump out as fast as water would flow in. 

You have me thinking that I should switch my carboy covers to something different.


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## midwestwine (Jul 19, 2011)

Runningwolf said:


> Matt you can get a test plug at the plumbing store that will block off your drain, preventing water from coming back into it again.



I had a plumber come in today to rip up my floor where the main comes into the house and put a back flow valve in. It will open and close the main when needed.


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## midwestwine (Jul 19, 2011)

Minnesotamaker said:


> What a shame. I have my hobby in the basement too; reminds me of the risks out there that we normally don't ever think about. I do have a sump pump in the wine room, I wonder if it would pump out as fast as water would flow in.
> 
> You have me thinking that I should switch my carboy covers to something different.
> 
> My sump pump and 3 of my neighbors sump pumps could not keep up. 2 of my neighbors were able to keep up with their sump pumps.


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## SarahRides (Jul 19, 2011)

Oh my god, that is awful! So sorry to hear about it, and I thought I had a mess on my hands! Good luck! :-(


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## Wade E (Jul 19, 2011)

That isn an awful crappy story there midwest!!! I feel for you guys, Im a little more furtunate as I have a walkout basement so feel safer with that. Maybe we should just keep the wine flags at 1/2 mast until we have a few months with no problems here!!!!


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## Truebrew (Jul 19, 2011)

Good Lord! What stage is the moon in? It's starting to get a bit scary out there!


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## Wade E (Jul 19, 2011)

Actually it was a new moon last Friday!


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## midwestwine (Jul 19, 2011)

Wade E said:


> Actually it was a new moon last Friday!



It all happened Saturday morning!


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## Truebrew (Jul 19, 2011)

Hmmm, I thought all the bad stuff was supposed to happen on a full moon. Maybe we need to rethink that!


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## Wade E (Jul 19, 2011)

Well I was fishing at 3 in the morning and didnt catch squat, not even a bite so I guess it wasnt a good day at all anywhere. Yes, I did say 3 in the morning!!!!!


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## Runningwolf (Jul 19, 2011)

Holy smokes Wade, did you go to work after fishing or were you off today. I do not fish but would like to again some day. I think it is totally awesome you found this new obsession. Next year you'll be fly fishing and in 2013 you'll be on a boat with Troy up in Alaska.


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## Flem (Jul 19, 2011)

Truebrew said:


> Hmmm, I thought all the bad stuff was supposed to happen on a full moon. Maybe we need to rethink that!



Actually, it was a full moon last Friday. A new moon is when you can't see the moon. Just and FYI.


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## djrockinsteve (Jul 19, 2011)

A full moon always rises at sunset. FYI


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## Minnesotamaker (Jul 19, 2011)

For those of you who go to bed early..... here it is.... the FULL MOON.


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## Runningwolf (Jul 20, 2011)

LMAO... that is funny


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## Tom (Jul 20, 2011)

Dan,

You sure YOU didn't?


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## Flem (Jul 20, 2011)

Tom said:


> Dan,
> 
> You sure YOU didn't?



Laugh it off?????


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## midwestwine (Jul 21, 2011)

Some bright news My home owner insurance company came by and gave me a check.That only made a little dent on replacing my stuff. Now and I just need the city to figure out who's fault it is.


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## Runningwolf (Jul 21, 2011)

Matt thanks for the update. It's good to hear you at least got something already to help you move forward with clean up and renovation. Are you going to be able to slavage the cabinets with the help of dehumidifiers.


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## midwestwine (Jul 21, 2011)

Nothing was able to be salvaged the company working for the city even ripped the shower out and tossed it in a dumpster. They put new water heaters in today so now I have hot water.


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## wvbrewer (Jul 22, 2011)

That is awful. I hope everything works out getting cleaned up. You can always make more wine. Good Luck


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## SpoiledRotten (Jul 22, 2011)

Wade E said:


> Well I was fishing at 3 in the morning and didnt catch squat, not even a bite so I guess it wasnt a good day at all anywhere. Yes, I did say 3 in the morning!!!!!




The fish in the south are still asleep at that time of day!


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## Wade E (Jul 22, 2011)

On thye good side at least everything will be new again, well, except for your wine as old is always better then!!


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## TwinMaples (Jul 25, 2011)

Matt, I grew up in Sioux City, and live in Arkansas now. That's so wierd that, with all the flooding in the Siouxland area because of the Missouri River, your house is damaged by a water main break. You just never know...

I'm glad you received at least some insurance money. Hopefully, the city will step up to the plate and pony up.

Thanks for sharing your story, and best wishes for a speedy rebuilding, so you can move on to important things: Like fermentation!!

Jim









midwestwine said:


> Nothing was able to be salvaged the company working for the city even ripped the shower out and tossed it in a dumpster. They put new water heaters in today so now I have hot water.


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## Midwest Vintner (Jul 25, 2011)

Wade E said:


> Well I was fishing at 3 in the morning and didnt catch squat, not even a bite so I guess it wasnt a good day at all anywhere. Yes, I did say 3 in the morning!!!!!



LOL. I night fish alot myself. Much cooler at night and you're less likely to catch pesky fish at night. 

I can't believe it backed up so bad. That's horrid. Doesn't the whole house smell too? That really sucks!

I got bitten by a spider last Wednesday and I'm praying I don't get any necrosis. Right on the bicep, close to the shoulder. Me, being a stubborn arse, didn't go to the doctor and now it's spread to my left peck and the skin is hardening. It seems to have stopped spreading and isn't real painful, but itches and very red (no black or other color though). So it seems there are quite a few people have a bad month.


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## Runningwolf (Jul 25, 2011)

MV did you see the spider? Any idea what kind it was? They're nothing to play around with.


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## midwestwine (Sep 15, 2011)

Update the city has denied repairing or replacing anything and the church says its was the city fault. So I hired a attorney to sue both of them. On a brighter note my Midwest order arrived this week so I can start making wine again!


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## TwinMaples (Sep 15, 2011)

Matt, that's a bummer. I'm rooting for you!!!

Jim


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## Wade E (Sep 15, 2011)

Go get em Matt!!!!!!


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