ADLERBERG — Eliza Barton and her wife rent the basement of a house in Eagle Mountain.
“I was finishing priming the wall we had just replaced,” Barton said. “Maybe five minutes later, our friends who own the house called us and asked to check the window wells.”
The basement had flooded just a few weeks ago after the sprinkler system broke. Barton had no idea she would have to deal with another flood.
The window shafts filled with water, which began to seep in.
“My wife and I ran out there,” Barton said. “We were bailing out buckets, maybe 50 gallons that we were shoveling because it just kept filling up.”
Their yard was several centimeters under water.
“We literally couldn’t save the money any faster than it was coming in,” Barton said.
A panicked cry for help
In a panic, her wife decided to post a call for help in a Facebook group.
“All of a sudden I turn around and there are about 20 people in our backyard with shovels, buckets, wet-dry vacuums and hoses, and we got to work so quickly,” Barton said. “I don’t even know their names, but they just showed up and siphoned all the water off us.”
The group then helped dig a trench in her yard that leads to the front of the house to divert water from the street. Barton also dug a trench behind her yard to prevent more water from entering her yard.
Barton, who moved to Eagle Mountain last year, said there is still a lot of cleanup to do inside and outside the house, but she said she is grateful for the community’s support, which likely prevented the damage from getting any worse.
“It’s really cool to just live in a community where you come and help a complete stranger,” Barton said.
