The OED says this about "whelm" as a transitive verb:
- To cover completely with water or other fluid so as to ruin or destroy; to submerge, drown; occasionally, to sink (a boat).
- To bury under a load of earth, snow, or the like.
- To engulf or bear down like a flood, storm, avalanche, etc.; hence to involve in destruction or ruin.
I think I am now officially whelmed by work.