Flooding

[Yorky]

I spotted SNSSO's comment about flooding. Three years ago about this time of year we had suffered substantial downpours for many days which a) caused a dam to fail and b) encouraged an idiot in charge of another dam to open the sluice gates fully rather than at intervals to allow the water to evaporate. Compensation was proposed by the local council (US$ 65.00) per householder but in order to qualify, your property had to have been under water for more than 5 days. This promise of compensation was announced 10 days after the flood when it was obvious that no property had been under water for more than 3 days.

I had 150 mm of water in the kitchen and bathrooms and 50 mm in the lounge and bedrooms for about 24 hours. The cost of the damage was in the region of US$ 6,000.00.

Oh well.

I shall give the local authority credit though, they were offering free sand bags. Unfortunately you had to fill and transport the bags yourself from the local "town hall" which was under 1.00 m water.

 

[Shaun]

I have every sympathy with anyone who has their home flooded; we had to move out for 6 months to rented accommodation after our house was flooded during a day of unprecedented rain in 2007. It only became evident, after the water had finally drained and evaporated away days later, that the drains in our street would have worked had they not been clogged-up with rubbish. Ever since then I've taken it upon myself to regularly check the drains are clear, and for a couple of years afterwards felt jumpy when it rained heavily or continued for more than a few hours!

 

[Duck59]

Having been exiled for three months last year because of a flooded home, I can both sympathise and empathise. In our case, it was due to the idiocy of one person (miraculously, they appeared to escape any damage). It is, I suppose, one way of getting your home redecorated, but personally, I would prefer easier methods.

 

[Yorky]

It did get us a new kitchen (the previous chipboard one collapsed) at a substantial cost.

 

[Yorky]

I remember it well. My wife woke me at 23:00 to tell me that there was a flood and empty beer bottles were floating around the garden (another story). At that time the water level was some 300 mm below the stoep. I dragged myself out of bed and proceeded to collect bottles and throw them in the back of the pick up. Then sat down on the stoep and had a beer. It was then apparent that the water was still rising. I sat there watching the level almost imperceptibly rising up the steps a millimetre at a time. At 01:00 it had reached the stoep and was entering the kitchen and bathrooms through the floor drains. I couldn't believe that it would continue to rise (it had stopped raining) but my wife persuaded me to start disconnecting the hi-fi speakers and pile them on the bed. Then move the fridge from the kitchen to "higher ground". Eventually at around 03:00 it appeared to subside at the levels previously mentioned. The main sufferers were the kitchen units, the double bed and the wardrobes (all chipboard). And, of course, our two cats who were ensconced upon the spare beds (the mattresses needed replacing later despite my wife's best efforts with plastic covering). And, our toilets discharge into a cess pit and a septic tank which were obviously useless under the circumstances (I shall not go into the remedies in detail). We would have relocated to a hotel in town some 3 km away but the water was too deep to drive the truck through.

Not a good day.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

We've been spared the worst of it here. Adelaide and to the north of it had taken the worst by a long shot but we have routinely had roads closed here that do affect my OH's journey to work and we have to be really careful on certain sections of the dirt tracks (aka Australian roads) because several sections get flooded and are badly potholed or washed away. Plus there is an additional hazard where after a dry spell rain will leave the top layer of dirt wet and muddy but underneath is still dry. Sounds great till you try driving it and even with 4 wheel drive enabled on the SUV we have you can still find yourself drifting all over the track with the steering wheel at a completely different angle to the direction of travel. Ice actually had more grip and control!

However, I do remember a couple of homes we lived in over the years. 1 as a child where the council decided that it was dangerous for us to enter s storm drain that the local brook used to go under the main Leek to Buxton road and then under the railway before surfacing just before the river alongside the canal... They put bars over it because we weren't allowed to cross the road, so we went under it instead the result was that it usually flooded because it was never cleated of debris coming down through the woods and fields...

Another house just had a room v closed off permanently because it had its own swimming pool... Ok paddling pool but you get the idea. The mountainside was at ceiling height at the back, dry stone (there's a bad name of there ever was one) wall 3 foot thick for walls... It did nothing to stop the water draining off the land and into the room.

Another house in the lakes actually had a stream under the floor of the study. You could lift the stone (large pieces of slate about 2 foot by 1 foot) and see the water. When it could not cope with the volume of water it would flood the lawn, come down the steps into the back door. Sandbags made it so flooding the sitting room and kitchen which lead off on either side (the entire down stairs was slate floors for a reason) and you simply opened the front door to let the water out... I loved living in the lake district... Several times a year you could not get out due to flooding. The road would be under the lake and it would take days to clear. Sadly the exit to the lake was one that was damaged badly last year with one of those bridges collapsing leaving people with a very long diversion.