the middle of the night as trees crashed down around us. We had made no preparations. I heard the roar of a waterfall as it cascaded into my basement. First I hurriedly ran all our camping gear upstairs (cook stove, lantern, etc.), then valuables were cleared from the first floor. After just 20 minutes it became eerily quiet... the basement was full... no more roar of water. I was about out of time. Anything remaining on the first floor was stacked on countertops and tables. Next, I ran outside and tied up the boat, it was already floating away, and we might need it to escape later. I wore a rock climbing harness to do this safely in the waist deep moving water. After the flood there was mud everywhere. The remnants of an old deck was left in my yard by the flood. I salvaged the old decking and used it to make a temporary side walk to keep us out of the mud as we cleaned up. I got old fire hose the fire department had culled out for free and screwed it to the boards... so in my case we really could roll up the sidewalk at night. I later made several more of these walkways, using pallet grade white oak. This was published as a tip for staying clean at muddy construction sites, but it was inspired by disaster: http://www.finehomebuilding.com/how-to/tips/...