A deluge is what I thought we had overnight. There was thunder. There was lightning. There was wind. I checked the rain gauge this morning and there was 18 mm of water in it. That's something like three-quarters of an inch of precipitation.
What a difference compared to the temperatures and skies we observed yesterday morning. Above is a photo of the July 9 sky at sunrise, and below, there's Walt headed out into the vineyard for a walk with Tasha.
Then I just heard on Télématin that in Paris last night, they had 50 mm of rain in about an hour's time. That's two inches, and is the equivalent of a month's rainfall. Water was pouring down the steps into some metro stations, and into the basements of many buildings. I guess we were lucky.
The Paris thing happened here one year.... the measure the agros use is per square metre.... translates as fifty centimeters of rain.
ReplyDeleteThe farmers had filled in a ditch (now redug).... and ploughed up a greenway, just to get one more tractor pass in!
When the torrent fell, on the flatlands to the south of us.... the run off tore up the field opposite. We were on our way here and discovered a front yard full of fine clay sludge! Our farmer neighbour had jet washed the cement just in front of the house, but there was even a layer of silt indoors, behind each door!
We spent our holiday start shoveling sand and gravel over the yard.... we were expecting a delivery that needed to go in the barn.
Our front gates saved us from a yard full of field, though.... it diverted the blocks of flint along to the next ditch!!
I guess our return to UK was timely! That much rain and the resulting squelch is no fun in a caravan.
ReplyDeleteIt's raining right now. Probably there too. I hope your trip was easy.
DeleteIt was OK, thanks. A little late into Portsmouth but we still caught the 2nd ferry connection back to the Isle of Wight so got home about 11.30pm. If we miss that connection, then we don't get home until about 2am.
DeleteMy understanding is that 50 mm of rain means 50 liters of water per square meter. That's a lot. We had rain like that a couple of times last year, and it caused serious flooding, including in our garage. We've had rain that heavy a few times since we've lived here, including one memorable January when 50 mm (2 in.) fell in one day and nearly made our septic system overflow. Still, one December in San Francisco, we had 11 inches of rain fall in two days. Water was flowing freely though our garage and basement.
ReplyDeleteYour potager probably liked the rain, if followed by sun.
Delete11 inches in two days is remarkable. I think they had intense raine in SF this past winter as well.
The rain was good for all the plants, including the garden plants. We had another hard shower just a couple of minutes ago.
Deleteoh my....ou daughter & family got to Amboise yesterday from Biarritz & were planning to drive into Paris today (something hard enough on a good day) I hope they postponed....yikes
ReplyDeleteHope they made it okay. I think the flooding was brief and minor. Mainly metro stations (15 or 20 of them) and basements in buildings.
DeleteSump pumps are being sold for rains like these!
ReplyDeleteLuckily, all our space is above-ground — even the part called a sous-sol or basement. No need for pumps here.
DeleteHow Tasha has grown! Today it is raining here too. At last! Yet, I hope it won't last all summer. Just enough to wipe the dust away and give the plants a chance to regain their natural (green) colour.
ReplyDeleteNatasha has grown a lot. She's clearly bigger than Bertie now. But we don't know how much she weighs.
DeleteSince you don't mention any indoor damage, I presume the new roof held up.
ReplyDeleteNo sign of any leakage, but we didn't have as much rain this time as last summer, for example. Walt cleaned out the gutters and I'm sure that helped prevent any leaks.
Delete