Torrential rains
The whole valley got woken up at about 5am by lightning and thunder, and then by a tremendous downpour. The electricity must have gone out at about 6am.
The storm lasted until about 9am, when Zola and I rode to camp. En route, we saw a 25-foot pine bough break off and crach to the ground, about 30 yards from the road. Not scary, but impressive.
India pulled me along on a 12-mile run through the mountains, with the downpour starting again about 9 miles into it. By the time we got back to the Inn (which had electricity and running water), I was completely soaked - as wet as if I had jumped into a pond.
It rained either hard or very hard for the rest of the afternoon, with water filling the stremas and rivers, and running off the mountains and across the roads. I got the opportunity to saw up a fallen tree which was blocking one of the small roads down the valley, which was fun, and was more chainsawing than I have done all summer.
After camp, Zola had two boys over for a play date, and one of our nanny friends and her charges came to figure out how to get back to her house, as her road had washed out entirely. This was a lot of people in our tiny cabin, particularly in the pouring rain. Fortunately, the electricity had come back on.
I took the boys out in the pick up truck, to look at the streams and waterfalls, to check on one of our neighbors, and to add the sawn wood to our burn pile. The collective 8-year-old boy decision to sit in the back of the truck soaked all three of them. Directly next door, a big tree crashed to the ground (missing the wires).
We drove our nanny friend home later, skirting the washed-out bridge, around some downed trees, and through a lot of water rushing over the remains of a bridge. On the other side of the bridge, an old and beaten-up sub-compact car was wheezing and steaming, and unable to move. When I went up to the window, the young man driving said, “It’s running rough, homes.” Couldn’t disagree with that.
The pub was closed, so we imposed on a friend in her new house for dinner. A group gathered, and we built a big fire, drank wine, and speculated about the rain. A nice end to a wet day.
The rain is still falling now, and the creek across the road is at its banks (probably three feet higher than normal). Drought is over, I guess. We will see what the damage is tomorrow.