Even with the best risk management plans in place, including abackup generator and two sump pumps in the basement, some thingsjust can't be anticipated. This is the main lesson from HurricaneIrene.

The Irene Weekend was a tension-packed two days. Saturday wasspent stacking and stowing outdoor furniture, plants, tools and thelike and getting the generator gassed-up and started, just incase.

Sunday morning it seemed that all was well. Our power had neverwavered. That meant the sump pumps were working! But as I descendedthe basement stairs, I was met with the dreaded sight—about fiveinches of water in the basement.

Lesson: Even with the best of plans things can goawry.

We applied a piece of tape at the water level and soondiscovered the water was rising, quickly—and the rain was stillfalling.

We sprang into action, the first step being to call the plumber.Even at that early hour, however, he was with a customer andrecommended we call the fire department to pump out some of thewater.

A call to our local police told me the fire department was notpumping any water that day. I decided to try my luck anyway andcall the nearby fire department directly.

To my surprise they said they would be right over. In less thanan hour, a crew was at the house with a pump going, sending therising pool in the basement out to the gutter and nearbystream.

In talking to the volunteers I discovered the departmentalready had about a dozen calls from residents about flooding. Theyalso had responded to four house fires, a transformer explosion andthe roof of one of their own buildings had collapsed. Quite a dayfor a volunteer organization and it wasn't even noon yet!

One weary volunteer, in fact, had worked all night at hisregular job and was expecting to be called in for another shift injust a few hours. Nevertheless, they were still cheerful, politeand friendly.

During their discussions they mentioned funding for all theevents they were responding to. “Do you know how we will pay forall this?” One fireman asked another. The other responded that FEMAmoney would most likely cover it.

This is a good thing, since our cash-strapped county, like manyothers, would have a hard time funding this explosion ofevents, and expenses.

I couldn't help but remember the mantra of some politicianswho point out that the federal government has little to offer thestates and counties of this country.

For example, Ron Paul has said the feds should have no role indisaster relief and Eric Cantor stated that any federal disasterfunding for Irene would have to be balanced by government spendingcuts.

The reality, however, is that without funding there can be noservices—services that communities need and expect. Even with theuse of volunteers, a fire department still needs money for trucks,hoses, pumps, a fire house and much more. And then there are theunexpected snowstorms, firestorms, tornadoes, earthquakes andfloods to contend with.

While it's a nice sentiment that those in the middle of anemergency should depend on their neighbors for help, that isgenerally not going to happen. My neighbors were having their owndifficulties.

After about an hour at our house, the fire department decided tocall it quits. The water in our basement was still rising andothers needed their services. Because of their efforts, however,the flood level was maintained at about 10 inches, when it couldhave been much worse.

We also found out that both our sump pumps had beenworking the entire time. They just couldn't keep up with the amountof water pouring in! By Sunday night, the pumps had done their joband all the water was out of the basement—leaving a soggy messbehind.

Lesson: Never leave anything on a basement floor.

Supposedly secure plastic tubs ended up floating and overturnedbecause of the high water level. Items that had been placed onlower shelves were wet as well.

A key step in the risk management process is filing an insuranceclaim. But are we covered for this disaster? More to come.