It's Raining...

Yeah, sure, I know, if you have to talk about the weather, there's nothing going on. But...

It's been raining for most of the week. It's the 2nd of June and my area has already received double the long term monthly average. How much is that? About 60mms or two and half inches - for the whole month; so far, the gauges have filled to 130mm in two days and it is still coming down.

I've worked out that since Monday, when it started, we've had over 173mms of rain or seven inches. A good soaking rain - Autumn has been colder and drier than usual; and there in presents the problem: if you have dry and brittle ground, the water simply runs off without penetrating.

Since it has been raining for so long, the ground has had the opportunity to soak up alot of water; it's taken three days for the local creek to start running, for example. Now, we come to the next height in the raised stakes. If we have too much water, we are gonna flood.

I live in a coastal community, but the creeks in the surrounding areas, are behind all the houses. Oh, and in building some of those houses, the natural drainage channels were diverted away from the new houses near the main creek and toward the old ones nearer the coast.

I can't tell you how pissed off I am about that, because a lot of that water comes through my backyard. I have an irrigation pipe through the back and a small drain that is usually good enough. Since the local council approved a drain out the front that doesn't meet flood standards, and had the water channel diverted, if the street drain blocks up with debris, our back drain fills up and overflows. It's right outside the back door - no steps, just the door.

About the same time last year, we had an astonishing storm that dumped buckets of rain. It was too much for the drains and we ended up with the bottom story flooded. Complaints to the Council have resulted in buck passing.

Sure, it was a 'once in a century' event, but, damn it, it happened and I want it fixed in case another one happens (as events like this usually do regardless of 'expert advice').

For now, the drains are holding, the creeks are holding and it's still bloody raining! Of course such extremes always brings Dorothy McKellar's quintessential Australian poem to mind; in particular:

I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of rugged mountain ranges,
Of droughts and flooding rains,
I love her far horizons,
I love her jewel-sea,
Her beauty and her terror -
The wide brown land for me!