It was hot and sticky Sunday morning, but I did manage to get some outside chores done.

I cut back the big tomato plants against the fence and tied them up.  I cut off all the spent hostas stalks (front and back beds). Fertilized pots in spaRRows.  Did a lot of deadheading, pulled weeds, tidied up in the swing bed.

Then, since 2 of the 3 garage barrels were now empty, I cleaned them out and made them ready for any rain we might get.

I was hot and sweaty and decided that was enough.  It was going on 3 pm and I was ready for some serious time inside with a cold drink and the A/C.

I checked the radar.  Some small stuff to the north of us. 

No probs there.

About 15 minutes later I glanced out the front window from the couch and saw what I thought was smoke from the neighbor's grill.  Hmmm.

A closer look.

It was all water.

Coming down.

In buckets. 

Checked the radar.  Those little green spots had swelled into BIG RED BLOTCHES and was growing as I watched.

The 2 barrels filled within minutes - the water coming out of the downspout so violently half of it overshot the 3rd barrel.

I stood and watched the rain gauge fill before my eyes.  Within 35 minutes it was just over 2".  (The pic shows less because I forgot to take one after the storm.)

Water raced from the golf course, across lawns further down the hill, almost a foot deep in places.  It surged down the hill, flooded the creek, backed up into the golf course to the east and homes to the west.  

And the thunder and lightning was constant.  Thankfully not much wind.  Then it passed on to the south.  Since it was slow moving, the thunder from the storm was loud and long for almost another hour.  

Then it was over.  

*sheesh*

No damage here except for the fence San Marzano tomatos - beaten over, but not broken; the basement sump only came on once.  Well, the rain barrels are filled again.  What a ride.

Here it is Wednesday, hot and humid again and the 1st rainbarrel is nearly empty again.  Circle of life..... *heh*

All I asked for was 1/2" of rain to re-fill the 3rd water barrel.  And that much rain would also take care of the recent shrub and annual flower installations.  I was tired and didn't want to haul water around this afternoon.

We got 1/4" of rain a little after 3:00 pm.  Great.  Now if only one of those other errant dots on the radar would roll our way, we could top off the tank, so to speak.

It started up again at 4:00 pm.  The next hour and fifteen minutes were total chaos!!

Wind, rain, hail, lightning, rolling constant thunder.  And it surely did rain.  Torrential doesn't do it justice.

When it started to taper off around 5:15.... the 'hood was in trouble.

We gotten 4.1" of water.

The water rushed down the road so fast it took garbage bins with it.

It took sod with it.

It took part of the roadbed with it.

And when it got to the bottom of the hill, it filled up the creak, choked the culvert under the golf course, surged into the house at the bottom of the hill and flooded acres of property.  

The rain came down so hard it just jumped right over the gutter on the garage, cascading down the garage door and ran into the garage.

We had a rain like this back in 2003 (again in 2006 & 2011) where we got just as much water just as fast.  My basement floor actually geysered  water due to the hydrostatic water pressure under the foundation and the walls became fountains with jets arcing out over 6" (and my house is on TOP of the hill!).  So, since I was on a waiting list, it wasn't until 2004 until an interior drainage system and a super sized sump pump was installed (Basement Systems).

I'm happy to report only 2 little incidents in the basement today:  a trickle of water from one of the interior wall drains (that had been repaired for leakage in 2011 - obviously not completely fixed**), and water running from an electrical outlet on an exterior (below soil line) wall (put the blame here on the electrician who put anchor bolts THROUGH the plastic wall water barrier.  Grrrrr.

Anyway, I quickly unplugged the freezer from that outlet and snaked an extension cord to another outlet.

The crawlspace under the bedrooms, where no drainage was installed, had water gushing from the foundation tiles, creating creeks across the uneven concrete floor.  That section of the house needs some work....

Otherwise, the sound and fury has moved on, the sun is shining, the sky is blue, the birds and singing....

I need a drink. I'm whipped.
Really.

** service call scheduled

Wednesday a.m. update.    ======

2.5 hours of severe storms started on 3:00 a.m. with constant lightning and thunder enough to shake a brick house.  Heavy sporadic downpours again, flooding the garage.  Thankfully only .8 inches of rain in the gauge.  But the radar still looks menacing.

Wednesday p.m. update ======

And the storms just keep on coming.... :-(

It started raining around 10:00 last night.  They forecasted us for perhaps 1/2 of rain so I wasn't overly concerned about flooding problems due to the deep snow from last week's 2 storms and went to bed.

I was woken up at 2:00 a.m. with lots of thunder and lightning.  I listened for an hour then decided to check the radar to see when it was going to quiet down.  What I found was a massive front with lots of embedded thunderstorms.

It sure won't be quieting down anytime soon and now I'm back to worrying about flooding.  Guess falling back asleep now is going to be a little problematic....

7:30 a.m. update:

The storms continued until nearly 6:30 and finally tapered off.  The heavy stuff is past us although we are now in a tornado watch.  There is 2" in the rain gauge. 

Around 5:15 I heard a sound I couldn't identify and it didn't last long.  It happened again a few minutes later and then I realized I was hearing the sump pump!  Now you might think this shouldn't be so surprising, but it is. Y'see, I had a full basement interior gutter system and sump installed back in 2004 after a storm that dumped 5" of rain in less than an hour.  The basement was awash; every crack in the basement floor shot geysers of spray from underground water pressure.  After that huge expenditure, it's never rained hard enough or long enough for it to come on. :-/

But now with the ground frozen and the 10" of snow remaining on the lawns, roof runoff obviously worked down the foundation and filled the sump.  Good to know it works. It came on maybe 8 times and is quiet now.  Another thing that makes it noteworthy is that you have to remember - I'm on TOP OF A HILL so I can only imagine what my neighbors downhill from me and going through this morning.

Glenda asked about my flood concerns.  But it's not for MY property.  My lot was properly graded way back when and most of the water off my lawns run into a swale between my house and the neighbor to the south.  A lot of the private road and other lawns feed that swale which in turn runs downhill across a couple of backyard and joins up the stream at the bottom of the hill.  This morning the snow and ice has blocked the culvert under the golfcourse (it's too narrow) and now several backyards are flooded there.

Here you can see the path of the swale coming from between the 2 houses then running down and across the backyards down and the flooded stream.  (Sorry for the blurry pic).

After 3 months of hard-core winter and other aberrant weather, I'm about worn out.  It took me 3 days to dig out the driveway and deck from Friday's blizzard.  But there is still lots of (now saturated) snow on the ground.  Can I relax now?  Nope! In fact, we're just now coming into our HEAVIEST SNOWFALLS which traditionally come in March and early April.  Oh joy.  :-/

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