Saturday, June 28, 2008

More than enough water for one storm!

A few days ago I mentioned that my little corner of the world had gotten a real gully washer. Well, I was wrong. What we got then was just a tiny shower compared to what fell in my yard yesterday afternoon. That storm defined “gully washer.” In less than a half hour, my weather station rain gauge showed 1.35 inches of downfall.

I live well off the roadway as I’m sure you’ve read here before. I have only one reasonably close neighbor and our properties are separated by a drainage ditch. That ditch ranges from about two, maybe three, feet at its narrowest section, which is most of the ditch, to maybe four or five feet when it rains. Most of the time it’s only about six to eight inches deep, when it has any water in it at all. My neighbor used to have a black lab dog before age took him that laid down in the ditch to cool off.

We have a little bridge across the ditch to make crossing easier for me. Until just a few years ago before I messed up my hip, jumping the distance was no trouble. After I crushed my hip, the neighbor put up the little bridge.


When this picture was taken, the water had already begun to subside; but at the height of the storm, the floor of the bridge was totally engulfed.

From the bridge, you can see the anger of the now brook as it moves on down the drainage ditch.


About in the middles of the picture is an indication of the normal width of this little ditch.

On the neighbor's side of the ditch you can see how the water has climbed the banking. At this point, the top of the flow is about three feet above the normal flow, when there is flow.

More of the flooding of the flow on the neighbor's side. That little rock wall on our side help protect one of my wife's gardens.

Just before the convergence of the two driveways, the ditch has a pipe that carries the flow under the neighbor's driveway in a continuation of the ditch on the other side. The flow eventually heads out to sea, but that's a long way from here. In this picture, the water is pooling as it waits patiently for the flow through the pipe

As floodings go, ours wasn't anywhere near as severe or destructive as those in the Midwest this season, but it was an unusual happening in our little corner of the world

And the weather forecasters say we can have intermittent showers or thundershowers continuing through the weekend into Monday.

Speaking of Monday, we'll see you then. Have a great weekend.

GiM




4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Looks more like a river between the two houses. Do you own a row boat? Might come in handy.
Mary

Anonymous said...

No, Mary, I don't. But I've got a friend who might lend me one if it gets to that.
GiM

Unknown said...

My boat does not go in a ditch! Now, in a canal -- that's different.

Anonymous said...

Touchy, touchy, touchy! (A little French there???"
GiM