all hands to the pumps

All l can say is,thank god we live on a hill. So why's that you ask? Today has been, well, a stuck in the power shower sort of day, literally. Hard, driving rain with the full power switch turned to the max. We are completely cut off from the surrounding villages by rapidly rising flood water. Water that has swept off the fields, though gateways turning country roads & lanes into raging torrents, sweeping all obstacles in its path aside.

Our village has 3 foot+ deep floods, you can't get to Hornsea. Beeford is under nearly 4 foot of water. M's son is busy towing waterlogged cars to safety with his tractor. Here, we have closed shop early, very early, so that staff can either rescue livestock or sandbag flooded homes. l am going to ask Harry to get the sailing dingy rigged up just in case is doesn't stop raining!

l'm going to write this in 2 parts. I've done bit one so l'm now going to find my underwater camera bag & attempt to record some of this record breaking rain. Incidentally by 2 o'clock there had been 4 inches of rain.

OK, l've returned. Was it in the childrens book, Log of the Ark, that the Clidders melted in the rain? Well l do feel a bit like a clidder at the moment. Stockman's coat hasn't exactly kept me dry. Boy it is seriously wet out there, & no early let up either. The sky is a very dark grey, no changes in texture or colour, just dark, wet & grey. The fields are completely waterlogged, all low lying bits are becoming lakes, trackways rivers. The dogs however think that the rain is wonderful. Hmm.

One of our ladies, who left mid morning following a call from a neighbour, has just rung with an update, her house is now several inches under water, with the levels still rising. An elderly neighbour had commented that he had lived in the village, in the same house for 60 odd years & never seen the likes of this before, ever. The villagers are moving into the village hall for the night.

On my trip to the butcher' this morning, one of the things that l did notice was the bad driving of many of the motorists. Surely to god, when there is a flood, drive along the middle of the road slowly, taking it in turns with the motorist coming from the opposite direction to come through the water, that way no one gets swamped & you are on the highest part of the road. A guy shot past me, just couldn't wait, l'm in my 4WD by the way, he konked out, water half way up his door. Did l stop? No because l just had to turn left to the butchers.