01:00 AM EDT on Monday, October 17, 2005

BY JENNIFER LEVITZ
Journal Staff Writer

BURRILLVILLE -- Mark and Jessica Ericksson's cottage was so flooded that trucks driving by created a wake in the couple's living room.

"My husband was going to choke someone," said Jessica, who finally called the police to rope off her waterlogged street to traffic.

The normally well-behaved Clear River in central Burrillville spilled over in the Laurel Hill area early Saturday, flowing into the Erickssons' dream cottage, at 96 Centennial St., before gushing around the corner to brutalize some basements.

Mark Ericksson, 33, a friendly truck driver with Harley-Davidson tattoos, recalls moseying downstairs Saturday.

"As soon as I hit the bottom stairs, it was 'splash,' " he said. "I thought something was wrong with a pipe in the house. Then I opened the door . . . and saw the river coming across the street."

Yesterday, neighbors on Centennial Street sloshed around in rubber boots in water that was still shin-high and running like a creek in some spots. The water was receding, but the cleanup was just kicking in.

The Erickssons appeared to bear the worst of the damage, a fact that seems particularly cruel since the couple has a two-month-old baby, just bought their house in March, recently spent $20,000 for home improvements, and say they were informed by their insurance agent that they didn't need flood insurance.

"We're not in a floodplain, they say," said Mark Ericksson, motioning toward the medieval-style moat that now surrounds his house.

The orange mums are swimming. The backyard is a pond. Just-delivered winter firewood has escaped like runaway logs from a flume ride.

"Four hundred dollars to watch it go floating down the street," Mark Ericksson said.

Inside, the gray cottage smells like a dank basement. The carpet squishes and squirts under every step. The water rose to 8 inches in the living room, leaving a line on the wall. The water is gone, but the Erickssons worry about saving the house from rot and mildew. For now, they're staying with Jessica's family.

The couple don't know where to begin. "Where does it start?" Mark Ericksson said, looking at his soaked house. "Where the heck does it end?"

Ericksson said he understood a little better the calm, focused demeanor of some of the Hurricane Katrina homeowners he saw on TV.

"I was thinking, 'Man, if that was me, I'd be flipping out,' " he said. "But you can't. There's nothing you can do."

Outside, as the afternoon wore on, he and Jessica started with a small task, chasing down their firewood. They stacked a few salvaged logs in a "Little Tykes" wagon and shared some black humor.

"He's a biker dude gone family guy," Jessica said. "Now look at him; he wants to get on his bike and drive away."

"I need my bike to turn into a Jet Ski," Mark said.