It's a Big Hole: The power of flowing water.

Got up the other morning to see a 'spring' bubbling up in the back yard.
Not again.
Crap.

During the clean-up from Hurricane Ivan (3 FREAKING YEARS AGO!) we had a HUGE front-end loader hauling out downed oaks, stumps, rootballs, sections of neighbors' docks. Every time it crossed the sidewalk I could see the concrete flex and crack.

What I couldn't see was the pipes for the irrigation system (a foot under ground) flexing and cracking too.
But I kinda suspected.

BTW, your homeowner's insurance doesn't cover any of this, and it's expensive.

After we got things sorta squared away I turned the well that feeds the system back on.
And waited.
It didn't take long for the first 'spring' to appear.

The next couple of days were spent digging out each leak as it appeared and capping off the broken pipe.
Forget about replacing the irrigation system; way too costly.
We have city water inside, but the well also feeds some faucets that we use and those pipes, luckily, seemed to be intact.

Anyway, another piece of pipe just now failed.
When I dug it out, the leak was in the underside of the pipe and it had scooped out a huge hole beneath.

I repaired the pipe and so far have dumped 100 pounds of sand in the hole.
It's now about half full.
Damn.
:-(

I can't believe homeowners doesn't cover it. Or maybe I can. :( :hug:

Asked them if I could buy a policy that covered storm debris cleanup.
Nope. No such thing exists.

It was by far my biggest out-of-pocket expense.
Close to $10,000.
:-(

Sorry to hear you've got to go through it.

Nothing like the hidden goings-on of those pipes and conduits we tuck away underground. It's wonderful to have them out of sight, not so wonderful when it comes time to repair them.

Best of luck.

100 more ponds of sand in the hole.
That's 200 so far.
Now I discover that the water has carved out a CAVERN waayyy back up under where I dug it out.
Now I'm worried that the house may disappear.
;-)