In the news (by alaric)

BBC local news report on the flooding around here

Flood updates (by alaric)

Well, on Saturday night, Jean started projectile vomiting in a big way. Over the course of a few hours. So on Sunday her grandparents came and picked her up, to take here to Essex, away from muddy water and biting flies. And contaminated tapwater, since it turns out that water treatment plants had flooded; they say we should boil all water now.

And since the reservoirs are emptying, and they can't fill them up again with the treatment plants flooded, they may turn off the mains water. When this was announced, there was rioting in supermarkets over bottled water stocks.

Sigh...

Flood pictures (by alaric)

Here are the pictures to go with the last post.

The journey home

Arrival

When the waters receded

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

The Tale of Three Windows (by sarah)

Well as always with us things have been catastrophically failing one after the other! A while ago now we tried to open the bedroom window and the wood gave out and the pan of glass creaked - well the guy came to repair it and yes the whole frame was rotten and I think really the entire window should have been replaced as did he but Barbara thinks the rest is ok. So we had a borded up window for a while and he was going to touch up some paint that was peeling on a window in the office whilst he waited for our new window to be made.

He went to flake off the old pain and oh! The stupid window frame disintegrates and is pretty dangerous really - the reason? The last painters that were got in had just painted over the rot and probably have been doing so everytime they've come to paint - these are the same painters who painted the windows shut in the first place.

Anyway with alot of umming and ahhing we decided to panel off the bottom half of the office window as it used to be a door and went right down to the window - this has taken a while and has ment the place has been a bit of a building site. He basically finished that window yesturday - he still needs to put the gloss on the first window.

This morning however I am sitting downstairs with the rain sheeting down outside when what should I hear but thunk, thunk, ping, thunk... i tracked the source and too my dispair saw quiet alot of water dripping through the alcove ceiling right onto the cubs papier mache projects that hat been placed there to dry!

I think its cuaght severally damaged the wooden window seal which is like a foot and a half deep the kids projects should dry out again ok - I hope.

Sigh - the reason for this last window? Well the cutter has a little kink in it and can't cope with the amount of rain and so is just sort of pouring it down the side of the house where it is running in some dodgy 'pointing' i.e. were the cement/morta stuffs fallen out from betwwen the stones. Its also ruined the plaster on the inside.

Ho hum....

Ontop of that it is still raining and we are probably about to have the thrid flood of the year!