Water, Water, Everywhere!

Last Friday just as dinner was being prepped, the fire alarm went off. It goes off at least once or twice a month and usually from the monthly fire alarm testing. We weren't really alarmed since 99.9% it's a false alarm and maybe someone over cooked something and the smoke got out into the hallway. After about 10 mins we heard a lot of shouting and running back and forth outside our door, so we checked it out and this is what we saw.

 I was shocked to the hallway completely flooded. We'd have some flooding previously from Rabba next door but never to this extent. We later found out because of the extreme cold, a heating pipe from the next apartment had burst and hot water had flooded her place.

 This is what it looked like after a few people had walked in and out of her apartment trying to find where the water was coming from and trying to shut it off. The steam from the hot water made it almost impossible to see. I felt like I was in a scene out of Titanic as water started slowing crawling from one side of the building and continuing down the hallway. Water then started seeping into our place and I did the best I could to control it. I spent about 2 hours putting down towels and wringing them out until my hands were raw and in pain. Lesson learned here was to use small hand towels, they make for easy wringing. Large bath towels are great to quickly soak up large amounts of water but the biggest hassle to squeeze out.

After a few hours the condo had a special company come in to suck up the water one apartment at a time, then they left us with some dryers. It's extremely inconvenient to be sleeping inside your place and have three large industrial fans running 24/7, as well as a super huge dehumidifier. I'm the super lucky one that gets to sleep within arms reach of a fan. Our place is small and space is such a valuable commodity. It's now Wednesday, so it's been almost an entire week of loud fans. Have you ever been on a plane and you hear the constant loud buzzing sound and doesn't let you sleep? That's me! Even after having been checked up upon the last two days, there still seems to be some moisture. Unfortunately for now, our new fan room mates get to stay. 

The only thing I don't understand, is why of all the base boards being ripped out, is the wall attached to our place been cut out. It's strange, you can see what looks like fluffy dirty stuffing inside the walls.

Any advice and or tips to deal with this situation are welcomed!


Thanks in advance,
Eros And Pookie