Just so family and friends know…Casa del Garrett is holding up just fine under the onslaught of rain here in central Maryland.  My street dead ends in a grassy field, beyond which is a sharp drop down about sixty feet or so to an area of warehouses, and from there down about thirty feet or so more to the Jones Falls river (which is more of a very large creek most days).  I am well above the hundred-year flood plain around Jones Falls.  In addition my neighborhood is on a slight, but pronounced grade, such that if I walk three blocks east or two blocks north, I am standing at the same height as my roof.  Rain water, even from the last hurricane runs off pretty quickly around here, and people keep the storm gutters clear.

Last night, during a torrent of rain, I stood under the aluminum roof over my back deck and watched the water cascading down the alley.  The flat roofs of our rowhouses all tilt toward the back yards, and most all of us have gutter extensions that drain the runoff into the alley.  It was a mad river back there for a while, but because of the grade the water was rushing down the alley as fast as it was coming down out of the sky.  There was no danger of it overflowing into our yards or our basements.  At the end of the alley is a big storm gutter, but also the drop down to the Jones Falls, which would have to rise about a hundred feet to put my neighborhood at risk of flooding out.

I’d had it in mind to get the roof inspected this summer, as it’s about two-thirds into it’s ten year life expectancy.  But so far there are no leaks.  My little brick rowhouse is staying water tight, even under the basement door.  The bad news is that they’re calling for rain through the rest of the week for Washington and Baltimore, so a lot of places around here are going to flood.  I haven’t seen any downed trees yet, but I’m sure I will before the week’s over.  So far the power has flickered from time to time, but hasn’t gone out yet.  I’ve seen the power company trucks rolling around though, so I reckon downed trees have been giving them trouble elsewhere.

At the moment we’re under another torrent again.  They come and go.  Sometimes there is no rain at all.  It’s very much like what you get from rain bands from a tropical storm…nothing, then light drizzle, then rain, then a torrent of rain, then back to a drizzle or nothing for a while…only from what I see on the Weather Channel it’s just a stalled front pumping rain up the coast. 

So I’m fine for now, and I am not at any great risk of flooding.  It’s going to leave its mark elsewhere in the state though.