31. January 2010 by admin.

We are still in the process of cleaning up the offices and parking lot of all the mud and water, the drywall has been cut up to 2 feet up from the floors and new insulation is being installed. Arturo and I were able to get into the canal and clean out the flow door of roots and debree  that were jammed inside it and remove the mud in the bottom of the canal that prevented it from opening. We depend on this to get the water off our property and has not been functional since march of 2008. We have repeatedly asked, begged, requested that the City get a crew out to clean it out so we would not suffer flooding. they completely neglected the requests. Now you can see the results.

Flood in front of building

Flood in front of building

Water in studio

Water in Phil’s office

Cleaning mud from parking lot

Carpet and furniture damaged

Drywall removal

Propane heaters to dry out walls

Drowned computer and hard drive. Also drowned an Apple G4 and Apple 15 inch laptop & Apple laser printer.We lost 4 strobe power packs to water damage.

One of the problem drains the City refused to clean.

Our own drain maintenance.

This really stinks and is polluted. This is after we cleaned it as much as we could stand.

The canal after water has drained from the canal 9 days after the flood.

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23. January 2010 by admin.

Today was the clean-up effort. So many good friends showed up to help that my emotions overwhelmed me. With their help and our contractor Fred Jackson and crew we pulled up carpets, sloshed out mud and water, moved all the swollen and water logged furnature out side, pulled molding off and drilled breather holes in the walls, set up fans and and established a dry area to store all the tables and and chairs that were not ruined but just need to dry out. Fred and crew worked really fast and went through the other tenants offices and did the same thing. I spent a lot of time on the phone with the City and the departments dedicated to these issues and got nothing but the Catch 22 answers. They City maintenance crews have never showed up to clean the dam of rubbish that caused the problem. They just give us Case numbers as if that will solve the problem. With another good rain storm and we could be back to ground zero again. It will take a month or two get back in the office. Until then Tom and I are trying to set up computers at home so we can cover a few jobs and keep out customer happy. The insurance we have does not cover floods as they are an act of God by the insurance companies. I don’t think we will see any insurance coverage. It will take a lot to get the city to own up to the issue since it was their neglect that caused to problem. The process will be very slow.

This is another blockage to our canal after the big flood.

Some of our equipment drying out on make shift tables.

Look at the water line above the fax machine.

Some of the floor damage.

The cyc wall in the main studio will have to be re-built. Here Fred is taking it apart.

Tossing out the soggy carpet.

This will be Saturday’s project, getting the mud and water out of the main studio and treating the walls with mil due chemicals. We are installing 15 fans to help dry out the walls and floor.

Here are the wall vents Fred cut.

All our leather sofas are soggy and will have to be disposed.

This is the rubbish that that has been deposited 6 feet above the flood level of the canal.

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22. January 2010 by admin.

We had flooding from lat night’s storm which left 2 inches of water throughout the office. But today we had a flash flood storm at noon that flet 16 inches of mud and water in the office. The force of the water blew open the front door  and swept everything in the front and pushed it into the main studio. The force of the water was enough to open the second studio’s lift-up garage type door and let the water out the back. We are now waiting for the next storm that is supposed to hit tonight and it is predicted to be bigger than the one at noon.

This is the main studio.

The bath room.

The water floated our storage containers and moved them 15 feet.

This shows the high water mark on the building.

Even with the doors locked the equipment room flooded and damage a lot of equipment.

This is why we were flooded. The storm drain is completely damned up with  trash and trees and reeds. The city is supposed to keep the drainage canals clean so this won’t happen we have been asking the city for over a year to clean the canal. They didn’t do it so we got flooded. They seem to have a lot of lame excuses for their non action, none of what solved the problem. We will be out of business for a long time because of their negligence.

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19. January 2010 by admin.

Yesterday’s storm overflowed in the storm canal next to the office and flooded the parking lot. Luckily it didn’t get into the building this time but the prospect of the next storm forecast to be bigger may flood the office. The problem is that the city is supposed to clear out the storm canal. We have been calling them to do it for over a year. The environmental Protection Agency makes them get a permit to do this operation. The City drags their feet on the issue until it is too late. The water runoff in the drainage canal sweeps all the garbage and trees and plants into the storm pipes. There is too much rubbish to fit in the drain pipes and the water is then dammed up and over flows the banks of the canal and on to our property. This could have been prevented if the city had done their job in the first place.

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19. January 2010 by admin.

Something about a rainy day made me make a change to the look of the blog today. I may make further changes shortly. At least the day ended with a rainbow at th end of our street.

The storm is still bringing some waves.

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18. January 2010 by admin.

Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!

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