A little bit of rain

This is an unexpected, out of bound, update because of events in the night. I'll crack right onto it.

After I closed the blog off last night I sat up chatting as is my habit for a short while and while I was on the call the storm appeared to skirt me and go round behind. It then swung round and I could see some pretty impressive flashes off in the distance but as we chatted it got closer so much so they were visible on the webcam. I decided that I'd rather get off the call and go to bed before the power or internet disappeared. We made a joke about putting the laptop away because the roof about Room 13 has been taken down but when I switched off the laptop I did put it in a drawer in the desk, and I also turned off all the plugs at the wall.

I went through to bed and went to go to sleep but as I was laying there the storm hit properly. It was about as bad a thunderstorm as I've ever been through. This seven minute long video was only a small part of what went on. There was huge forked lightning that I failed to capture correctly and, towards the end, the light turned green for about 2 seconds - no flickering or lightning just a green glow that turned on, stayed on, turned off. Bizarre. The storm must have been right above my head as there were many Flash/Crack instant however, to give you an idea of the size of the storm, most of the bangs were between 5 and 10 seconds away. A massive storm.

I was getting quite concerned, particularly with how close the strikes were, and my special guest (who was on whatsapp to me) got worried about the boys and when I shone my torch through the window to the enclosure both Rambo and Ralf were stood by the gate. They weren't barking, just standing there and this was when the flashes and bangs was just starting to reduce and the rain had finished completely.

I set myself to say goodnight but for a while I had been hearing a dripping running sound and I am a curious sort so I got out of bed to check it out. I went through the living room (nothing there but the swallow huddled over its nest) so out into the corridor I stepped, expecting to hear the water falling outside one of the broken windows there. No, that wasn't it. The sound was coming from towards the stairs and landing. I shone the torch that way and walked down and was not happy at all by what I saw as I turned the corner.

I had my very own internal water feature including multiple waterfalls and a deep pond. I hadn't realised just how bad the rain had been but from what I was seeing it must have been torrential. It was coming through the ceiling badly enough but then, even worse, it was pouring down the stairs from the roof. From there it pooled and then eventually turned the corner and carried on down the stairs, eventually making its way out the front door. I shot this video pretty much as soon as I saw what was happening, mainly as I was already thinking how to stop it happening!

This is what I saw as I came round the corner

My first thought was to encourage the water to keep going down the stairs and out the front door however the big brush was in the roof space and the storm was still kinda bouncing around a bit close at this time so I couldn't get it. I found a length of wood and started sweeping through the water. I was able to send it downstairs faster than it was filling up but it didn't feel that efficient. I also wasn't totally happy with sending the water all through my house.

I could keep koi carp in this!

After five minutes or so I decided to stop and go upstairs to see what the roof looked like. The storm was still flickering in the far distance but I no longer felt at risk up on the top. I ducked under the waterfall over the doorway and went up. Wow. There was a LOT of water. This first picture is the roof directly above the landing and that is why there was so much water pouring through the ceiling. I had put one of my big buckets underneath that early on so any water that came through there did not get added to the river.

What to do with all this water. First I grabbed the washing up bowl and a cup and filled the bowl then took it and threw it over the edge. I only did one trip as this would take me all night. There was a small brush (the one used for putting the betoncontact down in the bedroom) right there so I started sweeping it out and over the edge down the stairs. This worked well for a while and I was able to see some progress however it was a tiny brush (I had no idea where the big brush may be up here) and I was also just pushing more really dirty water downstairs. I stood up, swung the torch around, and saw the big brush. I used this for a bit to sweep more water on the attic stairs and then went down, with the brush, and swept the massive pool that was now on the landing down to the middle landing.

On recommendation of my Special Guest I stopped trying to push it all the way through the house but opened the back door and (with some difficulty as there is quite a large lip at the bottom of that door) swept the water out there. This proved quite successful and I was able to do a couple of trips and get quite a lot of water out. I was still not satisfied and then I had a brainwave; my snow shovel.

I could keep a whale in this one!

I went and grabbed it from the garage (most of the house was pretty dry even with the missing windows so that was nice to see, and it does seem like no water is dripping through the flat roof) and then went upstairs again to start clearing properly. There was rather a lot of water up there. I stood myself in a gap in the roof by the corner and started shoveling and throwing, shoveling and throwing. I got into a good routine and was able to get quite a good scoop of water every time at first. I stopped for a brief 30 second back stretch a few times but mainly I just got into the groove. At last the correct tool for the job, though I really wished for a generator and a pump. The noise I was making disturbed the dogs next door and they were barking up a storm the whole time.

I scooped all that water over the edge

Talking of storms, it was still a bit rumbly in the distance and some far flashes of lightning kept me interested but other than a brief (and very depressing) rain shower it stayed clear and dry while I was up there. After an hour I decided to check to see how much water was left and I was astonished. All of the water that in the photographs above was gone. I had done it.

I went to the end, near the sun terrace, where there was another small pool and threw some of that over but there wasn't much depth so it was tough to pick much up and so I decided that enough was enough and went downstairs. A quick sweep through with the big brush and then I went to bed, wide awake and keyed up. I read for a few minutes until my eyelids drooped and then I was away, woken only by more lightning in the night but it didn't disturb me that much.

Sassy learning to swim

When I woke up (after another extra hour in bed; no need for watering today) I went to check the damage with some trepidation. Poor Sassy (who is fine, by the way) had gained quite a substantial water feature in her room and I do remember checking on her and seeing her hopping around under the drips; she must like the rain.

I'd just got this all clean *sobs*

The rest of the house was as you'd expect it; filthy with dirt from the roof and still standing water in places. I will be cleaning this today I think. So much for sorting the tortoise house. As my friend joked, they'd probably have needed water wings if they were out there last night.

Rambo has already been for a dip

I'm gonna leave you with these two pictures and a quick statistic. I went up before to the roof to see what it was like and found two buckets that had been sat, under the new roof, and they had both got 4cm of water in them. The wheelbarrow that had been left up there and was also under the new roof was practically full. The wheelbarrow is a bad indicator of how much water fell as it collects into its well however the buckets are not much wider at the top than the bottom so I had 40mm of rain fall in about an hour. No wonder I was flooded.