Glug….. glug

posted in: Chickens, Gardening, Weather | 2

That, unfortunately is the sound that my boots were making in ankle deep mud this afternoon as I was shovelling a dam into place on the vacant block next door.

Actually we have several vacant blocks above us, which funnel water run-off from rain straight through our yard. We were having some major problems as a result, and so I begged and pleaded with the developer to come do something about it. Which they did yesterday, after several weeks and quite a few calls. All should have been well.

It started with a bit of rain….

You can see the trench they dug to capture the run off here….

Unfortunately we had one heck of a rainstorm this afternoon, and about where I’m standing, is the drain that was supposed to handle all that water. It’s about 15cm in diameter, maximum. It just wasn’t cut out for the job I’m afraid.

The earthmoving guy who dug the trench didn’t leave enough of a levee at the drain end, here. So instead of the trench protecting our property, it funnelled the water in at this one spot, with pretty messy consequences… (the drain is in the middle of that large puddle at the right of the photo. Obviously working overtime – NOT!)

This is the view of our side of this fence…. you can see the rivers that have formed both in front of and behind the dirt pile from the weekend…..

See the very puzzled chicken peeking out of the coop? The water there was inches deep and undermining everything in it’s path. The mud that it has left behind and the mess that it made is incredible. I only had time for these quick shots before I had to go and start building up that bank. Of course, the rain has now stopped and this seems to have been a freak rain event, but I get the feeling that it’s going to be a long, and soggy winter. Sigh. At least the chickens had the sense to get in out of the rain and wait for the floodwaters to recede. According to the news reports, in other parts of Adelaide there was isolated flooding, roofs leaking etc, so you could say we got off lightly. I just hope we don’t get too many more of those storms. At least the garden beds are all raised, so the vegies etc rode out the storm without any real damage. I’ll give a seed/seedling progress report tomorrow when I’m a bit more relaxed and dried out!

Happy Crafting - Cassie.

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2 Responses

  1. Jenny

    You might check that inlet and make sure it hasn’t filled up with mud. The run-off can carry sediment with it and block up the inlet. The contractor may need to come clean it out.

    Good luck. I hope y’all don’t get flooded. : )

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