It pains me to say this, but "Lost in the Flood" is no longer one of my favorite, obscure Springsteen songs. I still like it. I still hope to see it unleashed on E Street almost every time I'm in Bruce's presence.

But, I won't be cranking that sucker on the iPod any time soon.

Like many of my west suburban neighbors, I suffered a sewer backup / flood as a result of the torrential rainstorm this weekend. This was my second major episode in two months and my fourth in 10 years (at two different residences).

I'm not an expert and I'm not special. I know a lot of people have it worse than I do. (I feel for the folks on the banks of swollen rivers). Nevertheless, I think I can make the following statement with a degree of certainty somewhere between pretty sure and dead certain:.

Floods suck.

Few things in life are as frustrating, devastating and downright messy as a flooded basement. There are few circumstances that make you feel as helpless as watching the water rise and your important possessions float away.

I saw a great quote this weekend from a woman who called the flood "an expensive way to clean out your basement."

That sentence made me laugh, because my basement was cleaned and disinfected after the flood two months ago. I threw out a bunch of stuff, some of it still useful and some which probably should have been tossed years ago. (Did I really need that psychology textbook from college?)

When things started getting ugly on Saturday afternoon, I moved a few things from the basement of my split-level house to a higher shelf or even a higher floor. I left a few things alone because I was feeling pretty lazy and figured we'd already had our flood for the year.

Big mistake.

My neighborhood was pounded by nearly a foot of rain in about 30 hours. It was torrential, bordering on biblical. That stuff that I moved to higher shelf? Ruined. The higher floor? Much of that got ruined, too, when the next level of my house was breeched because of heavy flow and a laundry room drain connected to the basement drain that was a conduit for the intake.

In a couple weeks, when the sludge is cleaned, the carpet replaced and the furnace / air conditioner, water heater, water softener, refrigerators, washer, dryer and TV are repaired or replaced and the insurance claims have been negotiated and settled, I may look at this event as a cathartic and positive development.

It has forced me to de-clutter my house and it brought me closer to my neighbors, as we watched the water make our street impassable and cursed Mother Nature, our bad luck, our elected leaders, MMSD and a few other entities.

Right now, though, the whole thing is a giant pain in the arse.

So, how was your weekend?