Weather news
After 5 days of temperatures in the 30s, and the nights not much cooler, Saturday saw the weather break. At about 9.00am, a storm started. I have never heard thunder so loud, nor seen so much lightning. We stood on the side porch, which is about 4 feet higher than garden level, and watched the rain. One of the common features of the houses where we live is that they have balconies, and in particular roof terraces. At about 9.25am, so much rain had fallen that next door had to start bailing their roof garden out with bowls and buckets. The drains apparently couldn’t cope. We watched the rain continue to fall. By 9.30am, the ponds and stream in our garden were overflowing. By 10.00am, the goldfish had left the ponds and stream, and were actually swimming around on the lawn, which was completely under about 4 inches of water. The road outside our house is a step below garden level – again about 4 inches – the roads were completely flooded, and the water was level with the flood in our garden. The rain still fell. The drive slopes up to the garage, and the garage is a good 6 inches below the lowest level of the house, so we knew a lot of rain had to fall before the house was in any danger, but by now the flood was half way up the drive.
At 10.30am, exactly as scheduled and to our disbelief, the driver arrived. The water on the roads was just touching the door sills of his car. The storm had stopped, the worse of the rain appeared to be over, and so we left. The security guards at the gate were sloshing around with their trousers rolled up to their knees, and the water level not far below. As we went through the gate, we realized for the first time that our estate is actually down in a dip – so although the estate looked like a bizarre Venice, the main roads weren’t flooded at all.
I don’t know what they did, but when we returned three hours later, the water on some of the estate roads were no more than puddles. By 4.00pm, the water was completely gone, our garden was back to normal, and the estate workers were brushing the debris from the roads.
I did try to ask the driver if this was typical weather, but either he didn’t understand me, or I didn’t understand his reply – he showed me his watch and seemed to be indicating an hour going by, so I’m none the wiser. By Sunday, the sun was back, the air was clearer, and we spent the morning sitting in our roof garden, furniture all the way from B&Q.
At 10.30am, exactly as scheduled and to our disbelief, the driver arrived. The water on the roads was just touching the door sills of his car. The storm had stopped, the worse of the rain appeared to be over, and so we left. The security guards at the gate were sloshing around with their trousers rolled up to their knees, and the water level not far below. As we went through the gate, we realized for the first time that our estate is actually down in a dip – so although the estate looked like a bizarre Venice, the main roads weren’t flooded at all.
I don’t know what they did, but when we returned three hours later, the water on some of the estate roads were no more than puddles. By 4.00pm, the water was completely gone, our garden was back to normal, and the estate workers were brushing the debris from the roads.
I did try to ask the driver if this was typical weather, but either he didn’t understand me, or I didn’t understand his reply – he showed me his watch and seemed to be indicating an hour going by, so I’m none the wiser. By Sunday, the sun was back, the air was clearer, and we spent the morning sitting in our roof garden, furniture all the way from B&Q.
posted by Linda at 10:31 PM
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