Throughout summer and into November, our garden table & chairs have been happily positioned on this bit of lawn between the mountains/fields and our house.
But the arrival of Storm Desmond put an end to that!
It succeeded in flattening all the chairs exactly where they had been situated . . .
But the heavy wooden table had completely disappeared! We eventually found it unceremoniously dumped in a tree down a bank!!
VERY STRANGE!!
Other than that, Desmond arrived and departed, leaving little evidence of his being nearby other than raging streams and rivers and waterlogged fields.
A week or so later, Storm Eva blew in, bringing with her more continuous torrential rain and further destruction around other parts of Britain. With the ground already at saturation point, there were several localised floods nearby and our lane was awash.
The neighbour's drive almost disappeared . . .
And on what was supposed to be a relaxing Boxing Day, I noticed puddles in a recently renovated part of the house. There was no evidence to tell us where it had appeared from. The ceiling was dry. It had not come in through the door. Most of the water was along internal walls which backed against earth (as we are built into the hillside), so we deducted it was coming through the floors & walls.
In what seemed like no time at all, we were standing in water splashing around our feet. We managed to move most of the furniture out in time. And at least the water was clean - no sewerage like in the flooded towns in Northern England..
And as fast as we tried to sweep it out, the faster it poured in.
In the end, we built a little dam and directed the water through a hose to the outside. This seemed to work and when the rain eventually stopped, the water level subsided.
As I write, we are waiting for the damp floor & walls to dry out.
But tomorrow, Storm Frank is due!!
Next blog - Another unexpected guest
