FLOOD!! (by alaric)
This time we're really flooded.
Yes, I know, we've claimed to be flooded before. The kind of flood you get when an appliance's plumbing breaks, and the carpet is all squelchy.
This time, it was ankle-deep...
It rained a lot today, and the stream rose so high that it came over its banks and poured across the drive. The waterfall became a roaring pond, with water cascading down the driveway between the two houses to rejoin the stream at the millpond, as well as water cascading across our parking area and down behind our house. This meant that the tunnel that normally carries the stream from the waterfall to the pond behind the house was full of high-pressure water, which proceeded to squirt between the foundation stones. Water came through the wall at the back of our fireplace, but not very much compared to the torrent that burst from the wall at the back of the woodpile. This minor river ran down the gulley in front of the house, where it filled the tomato grow-bags with water, swelling them up, making them form a dam - so the water level rose until it came over our doorstep, filling downstairs ankle deep and tripping the electricity supply.
All this happened while I was out delivering Sarah and Jean to Cheltenham - a trip that ended up taking a while, due to flooded roads. Luckily Barbara was around, with a friend, who let themselves into our house and shifted a lot of stuff that would otherwise have been ruined. When I came back Barbara and I shifted the grow-bags, removing the dam. This caused the water level to drop quickly, and soon the house was emptying out until it reached the level of the doorstep, at which point it stayed there, kept topped up by the water coming through the wall.
I rescued a few more things that were getting wet, then set off to collect Sarah and Jean again, now concerned. I had taken a long time to get home from Cheltenham due to flooded roads, so I took a route via high ground (up to Birdlip, then over Leckhampton and down into Cheltenham). To my surprise, the centre of Cheltenham was awash, with the police closing roads down - so I picked Sarah up and we headed towards where Jean's nursery was. The usual route was blocked by a small lake where a roundabout normally sits, so we had to take a long drive around trying to find unblocked routes and avoid the long queues of traffic.
This took over an hour, and we were starving by then, so we stopped off at a supermarket on the way back for a quick snack, before proceeding to make our way home.
There we fed Jean and put her to bed, had dinner (thanks to Barbara letting us use her cooker), helped Barbara mop about a bit, then (without electricity, and with the place still too wet to do much with) we're retiring to hunt out insurance documents and have an early night, to prepare for tomorrow.
But we're all alive!
And now we have photos uploaded
Building Maintenance, The Family | alaric | 
Sun 22nd Jul 2007 1:39 pm
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By Becca, Sun 22nd Jul 2007 @ 7:36 pm
glad you guys are all ok - at the end of the day you can just replace posessions and furnishings!
Just to gloat 😉 - i'm in Asutria its 32oC and i am in Austria's officially most beautiful village - no pollution, mountains everywhere and cute little chalets - i wanna live here!!!!!!
By @ndy Macolleague, Mon 23rd Jul 2007 @ 10:21 am
Hi,
Good luck. Take care.
Bemused that, despite being flooded, you still have time to post on your website. 🙂
@ndy
By David Cantrell, Mon 23rd Jul 2007 @ 11:28 am
Bemused that, despite having no electrickery you're still posting on your website 🙂
By Mark, Mon 23rd Jul 2007 @ 2:38 pm
Greetings! Sorry to see you've been got by the flooding, but glad you're all ok. Drop me a line if you need anything.. M
By sarah, Thu 26th Jul 2007 @ 8:41 am
Alot of the flood posts are written off line and then uploaded when there is an oppertunity plus there are mobile phones.
By sarah, Thu 26th Jul 2007 @ 8:44 am
We both had fully charged laptops when flooded as well which was a bonus.