Our country is suffering through drastic winter storms. With Valentine’s Day quietly passing us by this weekend, I remembered two years ago when I felt I was fighting Mother Nature to save our 1930s Palm Springs home. I’m sure it wasn’t as bad as what people are suffering with right now — loss of power and extreme weather — but It was a battle for hours as the biggest rain storm in decades pounded our desert.

Photo from The Desert Sun

When it rains in Palm Springs I usually welcome it. Growing up near Seattle, I’m used to rain. It smells so good and makes everything green and refreshed. But, when it rains hard in Palm Springs, it can be a nightmare. And Valentine’s Day 2019 was one of those days.

I enjoyed listening to the rain on the roof the night before. But in the morning, I heard a “drip, drip” that sounded too close for comfort. I kept waking up and checking on the house from 3 to 6 a.m. Everything was okay besides a drip in my bedroom. By 6:30 a.m. our patio and garage had flooded and the water seeped in through the bottom of the French doors. By 8 a.m. the water was puddling in our living room and making it’s way across the entire room.

I battled the flooding in the house with towels. Heavy, rain drenched towels that I wrung out in the tub and threw into the dryer. Back breaking work after several hours and the rain was winning. The floor was completely covered by an inch or two of water.

My husband left for work at 6 a.m. that morning, but as the weather got worse, he decided to head back home. He bought two sump pumps on the way and had to stand in line for them at the hardware store. What a romantic Valentine’s Day present, right?

The sump pumps were game changers! I took a break from fighting the flood to look online to see how other people in Palm Springs were doing.

There were numerous accidents on the freeway and roads. Schools and businesses closed. We were told to hunker down at home.

The worst of the rain was still to come. I know we needed the rain–but really, did it all have to come down in one day?

Here’s a youtube video near the Indian Canyons: