When the Levee Breaks…

…I’ll have no place to stay.  A few shots of last night’s dramas.

So here’s the plan.  Keep the bit on the left of the wall…

…out of the bit on the right of the wall.  Or at least to manageable levels.

And how do we do that?  Well not, it would seem, with the help of the brand new electric pump, which failed within ten minutes.  Which is beyond irony, my friends, believe me.

Bailing, then.  Bailing from 8.00 pm until 5.30 am, pretty much continuously, a Canute-like task as the waters rise.  And yet essential.  Keep on top of it.  Keep bailing.  All the time looking for any sign that the water has stopped rising, watching the Plough slowly pirouette through the sky as the night draws on – thank heavens it’s clear – no need to look at the time, and still we are bailing, bailing, on and on, rock ‘n’ roll out of the Man Cave window, Humble Pie, Magnolia Electric Company, Drive by Truckers, bailing,…

…and now it’s tomorrow, past midnight, and the water is still rising, slowly rising,…

…and we’re bailing, until finally, some time past 1.00 am, we realise, with great relief, that the water is no longer rising, it really is no longer rising, and that we now have an end in sight.  But it’s still some distance away; we have maybe four hours ahead of us to keep the water at bay before it begins to actually recede.  And thus it goes, bailing, getting quite tired now, less chat, less music, bailing, bailing, and at about 5.30 am the water slowly begins to drop.  Very, very slowly, but the corner is then turned and our efforts have succeeded, because the house is now safe.

We’d kept it to a couple of inches inside the patio, which is just fine (the mark on the left where the brickwork is clean is a bailing mark – bucket hitting wall whilst scooping, over and over again, as are the two other less defined marks along the wall that you will now notice),…

…and once it was light and I was 100% certain all was okay – note the tide mark – still plenty of water on the other side of the wall, but definitely going down,…

…I snapped a few more shots,…

…there’s a river over there somewhere, by the way,…

…this from the Man Cave window,…

…definitely, definitely going down,…

…and I went to bed.  9.00 am.  Long night.

And here we are this afternoon, after a few hours kip,…

…and the under-house pumps are still working fine (and still are, as I type in the early hours of Tuesday morning),…

…and we got away with it.  Still smiling, it seems, despite the bailing injuries, and some seriously aching muscles.  And a sense of righteous satisfaction, too.  Until next time,……

Should you wish to see what it was like last time, take a deep breath, and click here.

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11 Responses to When the Levee Breaks…

  1. Daisy in Indonesia says:

    Great effort guys. Tough conditions but persistent hard work from you saved the day …well done!
    New electric pump dead after 10 minutes! Of course it would! Uurrgghh… sucks!
    Bailing to some good music though… only way to bail.
    Gave your biceps a workout mate…
    All’s well that ends well huh?
    Daisy

  2. sendergreen says:

    I was wondering, and concerned tonight after reading late reports in the Canadian media. Glad you are all ok, and that no cats, or dogs required zodiak boat rescue this time. I’m intrigued by the “floodgates”. Two of those stacked vertically and Nicole could “Cat-Jail” Ewen, and Mordred long enough to finally enjoy a cheeseburger, and fries in peace.

  3. Lou Lloyd says:

    My daughter lives in Worcester and it has reached its previous highest recorded level, luckily she is on a hill. Glad you are safe

  4. Morag Sutherland says:

    We were watching BBC from west country this morning and we wondered how you were as no.mention on national news. Glas you are smiling in spite of what must be pretty awful conditions. We saw the blue defences in Ballater last year…..good that they proved effective for you. I hope you get some well deserved tedy

  5. Nick kilner says:

    A truly Herculean task my friend! I’m very glad to see you’ve made it through.

  6. Steve Monk says:

    Living in Kent, we have our share of floods but thankfully not where I live. I cannot imagine the panic this must cause you.
    Well done, a Stirling effort and let’s hope there isn’t a next time.
    The worst we’ve had is broken fence panels and some rooftiles blown away and a few tree branches in the garden.

  7. Edward Tippelt says:

    Majestic effort! Might be worth investing in a petrol pump in case of power cuts and also because they are more robust than the electric units. Also in case the situation at a future date requires the electricity to be cut off.
    How well did the flood barriers work?

    Cheers Ed

  8. Magicfingers says:

    Thank you all for your thoughts and kind words. Flood barriers worked okay. It’s the drains and soakaways that need sorting. Soon. Had people in today to look at what needs doing. And after all that, one of the cats – all kept in during flooding until safe – has been missing now for thirty six hours. It never rains………………..actually, it always rains…………..

    • Magicfingers says:

      All together now: “But the cat came back, the very next day. The cat came back, we thought he was a goner, but the cat came back etc etc etc”. Phew.

  9. Sid from Down Under says:

    Just back from a few days car drive with my Missus to the southwest tip of Australia namely Cape Leeuwin at Augusta and my hometown Busselton with its 1.841km long wooden pile jetty with a train ride to an underwater observatory at the end. . Beautiful sunny clear blue skies weather. Paid homage to my father’s name on the Augusta WW1 War Memorial and the new plaque we had added to the new Armistice Centenary Memorial.

    Now I understand your email message. Wow, what another fright. Forget a pump – invest in manually operated stilts under your house – reliable mechanical ratchet lift rather than hydraulic (just joking). Glad pussy came home. Amazing how they disappear then know to where they must return. Keep smilin’

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