Several years ago, the area I lived in received 17 inches of rain in 24 hours and the knee deep trout stream near my house turned into a monster. We were woken by my golden retriever in 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…
