After 4 inches of rain on February 7, a student contacted me in an agitated state of mind. “Our basement is flooded, the internet is out, I can’t do my homework and the repair crew hasn’t shown up yet,” the message read. Estimated cost for the remedial work turned out to be $4,000, including a French drain, coating the wall, and building a drain sump along with an electric pump. Not surprisingly, my son reported the same day that his own crawl space was under water.