Comments on: Somebody turn the tap off!

By: Karen

Karen — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 19:46:11 +0000

I am so glad that the rain stopped when it did. We have had serious flooding here before and I know how frightening that can be. 7 inches is a heck of a lot of rain to get in one time.

By: Helena S

Helena S — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 20:01:40 +0000

Woah, I can’t imagine how worrying that must be. I’ll count my blessings and never complain again about the rain in Scotland or bemoan living on top of a large hill. Will be thinking of you both and the moggies.

By: Gui

Gui — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 20:27:43 +0000

I’m singing in the rain…

By: Alan

Alan — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 21:08:10 +0000

Scary Stuff. Hope it all worked out.

Avick
Neweb Ireland

By: Mike Cherim

Mike Cherim — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 05:32:49 +0000

Yucky weather. My condolences. We had flooding in the spring so I know what that’s like.

Wanna hear something funny? I read the title to this post in my RSS feed and what immediately came to my mind was that it was going to be about SPAM

By: Jaybee

Jaybee — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 09:36:09 +0000

LOL @Mike. Just shows how we get conditioned to expect certain things.

I have to say we were very lucky. Helena mentioned being on top of a hill. About 5 miles from here there is a village on top of a hill and they are up to their knees in water. It’s not one of the usual river burst type floods, flash floods can get you anywhere.

One guy on the radio last night was trying desperately to get home where his elderly father was wading around their house, up to his armpits, trying to rescue things and get them upstairs. I can only imagine the feeling based on how scared I was watching the water getting closer and closer.

The guy three doors down from me has just installed thousands of pounds worth of solid oak flooring. He decided the best thing to do was seal his front door completely. He figured he was slightly higher than us and would have about an hour before the water reached him, so he got loads of tubes of mastic and squirted it in all the gaps round the door, got some boards, covered those in mastic and screwed them to the back of the door, then put a heater onto it to help it dry fast. Great idea except of course now he can’t get out of the house unless he climbs out of the window. He’s out there now with a utility knife trying to cut away all the mastic.

By: Nicole

Nicole — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 09:53:07 +0000

But if the camber of the road was in the middle, then with any little bit of rain the cars would splash the water up all over the pedestrians and into any open windows in nearby houses!

7 inches in 4 hours! My goodness!

By: Jaybee

Jaybee — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 14:43:23 +0000

@ Nicole. By camber in the middle I mean the road would slope down toward the middle and the drains all run along there, a big V shape if you like. At the moment the middle of the road is higher so all the water runs to the edges and pedestrians are constantly getting soaked by inconsiderate drivers.

It also means that in flood situations The foot paths and houses fill up before the centre of the road which is fine and dandy for cars but not for those wading around in their front room watching the traffic go past outside.

By: Peter Watts

Peter Watts — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 18:06:09 +0000

Wow, talk about a close shave, or a close shower. Time to start putting buildings on stilts then.

By: iQon

iQon — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 21:47:23 +0000

In a pinch you can make sand bags out of pillow cases and trash bags.

By: Jaybee

Jaybee — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 22:52:28 +0000

@iQon Good point. Pillow cases never occurred to me. I’ve now found a very good source of empty sandbags as we have loads of sand. Army Surplus do them so I’m ordering a load to store in the shed just in case.

I’ve also found a company who fit flood protection to doors. It’s a permanently attached frame and when floods threaten, you slot in UPVC boards which form a watertight seal and you can add as many as you like right up to the top of the door, after which, if it’s that bad you might as well give in.

Only problem is, we live in a Grade 2 listed building which is 500 years old and they don’t like you bolting metal framework onto the walls. Might get away with it at the back but it wasn’t flooding round there.

By: Jaybee

Jaybee — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 11:06:25 +0000

Seems we’re still on high alert as the water from up country is making its way down the rivers and many are close to bursting. I think, hope, that we’re high enough not to be affected by it but there are so many people who are just getting hit again and again. As soon as the water goes down and they clean up, it comes back again.

By: ThePickards » Blog Archive » A Reading Roundup

ThePickards » Blog Archive » A Reading Roundup — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 22:53:36 +0000

[…] getting rather … damp … I felt a little bit embarrassed when she then posted about her flooding experience. Oops. Still, I’ll just pretend I never mentioned anything and she’ll never catch on […]