We applied a piece of tape at the water level and soon discovered the water was rising, quickly—and the rain was still falling.

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

A call to our local police told me the fire department was not pumping any water that day. I decided to try my luck anyway and call the nearby fire department directly.

To my surprise they said they would be right over. In less than an hour, a crew was at the house with a pump going, sending the rising pool in the basement out to the gutter and nearby stream.

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

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

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

This is a good thing, since our cash-strapped county, like many others, would have a hard time funding this explosion of events, and expenses.

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

For example, Ron Paul has said the feds should have no role in disaster relief and Eric Cantor stated that any federal disaster funding for Irene would have to be balanced by government spending cuts.

The reality, however, is that without funding there can be no services—services that communities need and expect. Even with the use of volunteers, a fire department still needs money for trucks, hoses, pumps, a fire house and much more. And then there are the unexpected snowstorms, firestorms, tornadoes, earthquakes and floods to contend with.

While it's a nice sentiment that those in the middle of an emergency should depend on their neighbors for help, that is generally not going to happen. My neighbors were having their own difficulties.

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

We also found out that both our sump pumps had been working the entire time. They just couldn't keep up with the amount of water pouring in! By Sunday night, the pumps had done their job and all the water was out of the basement—leaving a soggy mess behind.

Lesson: Never leave anything on a basement floor.

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

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