Water shot out of the ceiling at Kohl’s tonight
Lacey and I went to Kohl’s in Manassas, VA tonight to buy me some t-shirts. Most of my t-shirts have either shrunk too much, from too much dryer heat over time, or they’re black (and it’s too hot out these days to be wearing black t-shirts). They had a lot of funny t-shirts to choose from, so we spent quite a while looking at them.
After we picked out some shirts, we headed over to look at towels. We’ve recently been spoiled by some very soft bamboo/cotton-blend towels, and wanted to get some more soft towels.
As we walked across the store, we noticed a pungent, sulfuric odor. At first, I thought it might have just been some cheap perfume (since we were approaching the perfume section). Lacey thought a nearby kid had a poopy diaper. Then, we noticed that water was shooting out from the ceiling about 30 feet away from us!
It’s hard to convey just how amazing this was to witness, but it was basically like an upside-down fire hydrant, only with more pressure. That’s how big around it was, though, and the force was tremendous. Someone said it was hot water, and it looked like there was steam in the air near it, but it may have just been mist from the force of the spray.
Lacey shoved me towards the checkout and said “let’s buy our shirts, and get out of here now!” She assumed that they would be shutting down the store soon, and we might not be able to check out if we waited any longer. We’d just spent 30 minutes picking out 4 shirts, and we wanted to buy them! Towels could wait.
Sure enough, as we were about to check out, an announcement came over the PA system. They said that the fire department was on their way, and the store would be shutting down. The cashier checked us out quickly, and said something like, “Well, at least I won’t have to fold all those shirts!”
On the way out, I snapped a couple pictures with my phone. They didn’t come out as well as I’d hoped, but I went ahead and circled the water spray in red, and outlined the water that I could see on the floor (on the way out) in blue. Click the thumbnails below to view the full-size photos.
As we pulled out of the parking lot, a fire engine was approaching. Hopefully the firefighters were able to turn the water off quickly, but in any case, that Kohl’s is probably going to be closed for a while. I know from experience, just how much of a hassle it is to clean up after a flood. But
Speaking of my experience with flooding… Apparently, flooding happens wherever I go. I must have some kind of super power that I don’t yet know how to control. My apartment in Blacksburg flooded 3 times. My house in Herndon flooded 3 times. My house in Bristow flooded 3 times (and I’ve blogged about 2 of them. just noticed that I never posted about the most recent one. I’ll have to do that soon. Here’s what I did post, though: one, two, three, four).
It seems that even the stores I shop at are not even safe, anymore! Hopefully this pattern will not continue, or Kohl’s might be due for 2 more floods later this year. Might want to think twice before inviting me over to your house. :(
* Edited 07/02/2007 12:00pm EST - found another picture, I knew I took 3. This one is just of the water in the aisle. Yuck!
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July 2nd, 2007 at 7:05 am
Wow, that’s crazy. I remember our apartment in Blacksburg flooding (how could I forget :)) That sucked. Our house has had a couple of very minor floods. One was because I was doing laundry and not paying attention, and the hose flew out of the sink and started thrashing about everywhere in the utility room. After that, Clint rigged up this holder for it with some wire hangers, so it’s not going anywhere now. Another time was when the roof leaked thanks to Dan Lopez and Virginia Design builders. They built the roof to have this huge valley right next to the chimney. So when we had a major rain, it all puddled up there and had nowhere to go but into our house.
July 2nd, 2007 at 8:56 am
I do not feel like black tee-shirts actually make ME any hotter in the summer. I also don’t seem to notice shirts shrinking from the dryer.. Though the 2-3 shirts I still have from 1988-1990 do seem smaller, I thought that was because *I* was smaller back then.
It’s funny that you weren’t sure whether it was perfume, something designed to smell good, or poop, something evolution has designed us to perceive as smelling bad! haha
“Towels could wait” — yea, I bet the store-owners needed some! hah
as for flooding, i’m lucky. only 2 small floods at our house. both were clean-uppable with the supply of towels we’ve had. and 1 at my parents’ house, but insurance covered everything and it didn’t make it to my room.
It helps that our kitchen is sloped downhill a bit. One time the washer flooded, and the slop simply directed all the water out the back kitchen door! Convenience!
I’ve started to think a perfectly level floor is not necessarily a good thing.
July 2nd, 2007 at 8:59 am
I should add that Virginia Design Builders did come back and fix the roof, though my opinion is that they did so only because it was logical.
We were in the middle of trying to come up with a settlement that would cause them to finish the job (This was probably a mistake, if I could go back I’d probably just go to court).
If they had not finished the job, I would have been able to sue them for damages for not doing the roof correctly and abandoning the job. And if we reached a settlement and they DID come back to finish the job, well — they would have to deal with the roof that way either.
So it was logical for them to fix the roof to cover their ass one way or another.
And that’s how Virginia Design Builders came back to our house after almost an entire year of zero contact.
July 2nd, 2007 at 9:19 am
Clint and Carolyn, I love how you guys both mentioned your shitty contractor in comments on my blog, just like I posted comments about my shitty contractor (All American Building & Store Fixtures) on Clint’s blog.
Now I just need to post a comment about that rat bastard, Barinder “Barry” Chadda, on Caroyln’s blog, and we’ll be even! I just found some fresh material, so I’ll be waiting for the right opportunity to post it, Carolyn. :)