In the aftermath of the September storms that pounded Bartlett with more than 8 inches of rain rises the human spirit, a bond that has kept residents going despite adversity and a messy cleanup that has gone on for weeks.

Rains on Sept. 13 and 14 were so heavy that catch basins, drainage areas and retention ponds were quickly inundated. One of the areas hit hardest in the community was Beaver Pond near Stearns Road and Route 59, where overflow washed into basements on Kingston, Fairview and Duxbury lanes.

“Nobody got hurt; it was just stuff,” said Mike Reiskis, who lives on Kingston.

Mike, his wife, Shannon, and their two sons, Matt and Anthony, moved into their home less than three years ago and haven’t experienced that kind of flooding.

“We never dreamed it would get that high,” said Shannon, looking out her back window to Beaver Pond.

One hundred yards separate the Reiskises’ home from the normally manageable pond.

“It was more of a curiosity on that Saturday (Sept. 13), like ‘Wow, look how high the water is coming,’” said Matt. “We didn’t think there was any danger of it getting into the house.”

But it did. By the afternoon, the house’s sump pump had failed. Water rose to waist-level, and the family decided to call it quits.

In the basement they had remodeled after moving in, the family stacked its leather couch on top of the wooden pool table. They left a flat-panel television and Surround Sound system firmly anchored to the wall at a height of 6 feet, and fled.

“We didn’t think the water would even get up to the pool table, so we left the couch up there on top,” said Mike.

When the family returned, it found the couch floating, wedged sideways into a smaller room. Water eventually reached the basement ceiling, causing more than $80,000 in damage.

The house was without hot water, power and heat for two weeks. The family spent a week across the street at Brian Cullen’s house and a week at Shannon’s mother’s house.

“Every day after the flood, we thought that was the day the water would go down, and it just wouldn’t,” said Shannon.

To avoid structural damage, the family could only pump out one-third of the basement’s water per day. Mike, who works from home, missed two weeks of work dealing with the flood.

During the turmoil, an amazing thing happened.

People launched boats in the streets that recently had become rivers and came to aid their neighbors. Strangers came around to offer help. Jeeps and all-terrain vehicles became makeshift delivery vehicles for people stranded without supplies.

The neighborhood came together.

“People were just coming by, saying, you know, ‘Can I get you anything?’” Mike said. “People were leaving their own situations to help other people, which was really incredible.

“One neighbor of ours, (who) didn’t get any damage came by, and gave everyone a $75 gift card to Home Depot, which was pretty moving to us as a family. That was just so nice of them to do.”

Neighbors the family had never met brought dinner and sandwiches to the Reiskises and others in need.

“One of our neighbors, Laurie Abbot, came by on a bike with loaves of bread for everyone,” said Shannon. “Another person came by with rotisserie chickens.

“That was just so nice of them. Everybody pulled together, and it was just incredible.”

Mike still has three or four weeks before his renovations are complete, but he’s happy to be able to rebuild.

“Sure, we’re wary about it happening again, but at least no one was hurt and we’re able to rebuild,” he said. “Plus, we got to meet a lot of our nice neighbors.”

The village has contracted with Christopher Burke Engineering Ltd. of Rosemont to do an engineering study on the drainage in the Beaver Pond area. As of this week, the firm is in the beginning stages of the study.