Tag Archives: flooding

Record rainfall = no beach

What I've Been Up To, , ,

It was a beautiful fall day today so we took Monty down to the next lake for a swim.

When we got there, we discovered the beach was gone!

Well not really GONE gone, just under the water!

We’ve had at least 3 heavy rain fall warnings in the last month and a couple good soakers on top of that, giving us over 300mm of rain.

Where’d the beach go?!? Usually these stairs go down onto the lake shore, not directly into the lake!
Jeff on the bench

This bench didn’t used to be IN the lake!

Carpe Diem!! I went for my first swim of 2012 in my clothes!

Who said you can’t swim in October? And wow, are Croc sandals ever buoyant! They kept springing up to the surface, with my feet in them!

What a mess rain makes in February

PhotoBlog,

We got about 50 mm of rain last night. It blew out creeks and driveways right around the lake.

The lake is really high right now and there is a lot of debris on the frozen parts of the lake. Even a big plastic fish tote. The gravel road on the other side of the lake is a real mess. Some places it is just all big rocks that blew out of the creeks.

Here are a few photos from our drive around the lake. I missed most of the really great shot because I was too busy looking at it with my eye and not the camera.

Here is a wash out with a pail of hydraulic fluid and a big log on the road. Photo taken through a dirty truck window.

Rain in February makes a mess

Rain in February makes a mess

Rain in February makes a mess

Rain in February makes a mess

Rain in February makes a mess

Rain in February makes a mess

Rain in February makes a mess

Rain in February makes a mess

Rain in February makes a mess

Rain in February makes a mess

Now it’s freezing and snowing.

Our driveway is rutted really bad. I think there was too much snow in the ditching going along the driveway so the rain got impatient and used the driveway instead.

Another wild day in Nova Scotia

Weather, , ,

Decent storm we’re having today!

Big winds, wet rain, and warm tropical air.

We’re we both up before 5am. Must have been the wind. I fell asleep again for awhile, but it is only 11:11 (hey look at that! I just looked at 11:11 on 11/11/11 !) and it feel like 3pm.

CAMWIZ_11-NOV-11_11-12-18-95 [SHOOT]

The winds are making our walls and roof creak and crack, but not to the extent of a real tropical storm when the pressure changes threaten to blow out the windows.

Over 8,000 customers are without power in the province right now. I’m sure that will keep growing with these gusts. Our’s flicked a few times, so we unplugged our newly fixed washing machine so it won’t get any more power surges.

Guess how much it costs to make a blinky blinky F71 flashing error code go away on a two year old Kenmore Elite front loader washing machine? $540. We could have bought 2 used machines for that price. What a sham. At least we can do laundry again.

If there are further storm developments, I’ll come back and update this post.

Update @ 11:25am
10,717 customers without power in Nova Scotia now

Update @ 12:06pm
Power went off briefly. Jeff told me to fill the tub with water so we can flush our toilets later because he’s sure we’re losing power. 11,346 customers without power now. Monty is flipping out. He hates it when the power flicks and everything beeps.

Update @ 12:14pm
Power went out briefly again. Monty is hiding under my desk. 13,460 customers without power now. Mom just sent me photos of all the snow they have in Listowel, ON this morning. Can’t see the grass!

Update @ 3:58pm
Getting really dark and really wild again out there. Raining heavy. Saw on Twitter that Antigonish has already received over 100mm of rain today.

Update @ 4:27pm
Power outages down to 3356 customers.

Update @ 6:02pm
Aww crap. Literally. There is a couple inches of backflow from the septic system in the basement laundry tub just now in the last 20 minutes. Rain is almost done. Radar shows it moving out. Still very windy. Guess the ground is over saturated again.

Now THAT was rain, and what is going on with the mechanics in Nova Scotia?

Weather,

Yesterday afternoon we received rain of biblical proportions, that is, 40 days and nights of rain fell in less than 4 hours.

The roads were flooded when we headed home from work yesterday afternoon. It was raining so hard I had to drive fairly slow because I couldn’t see where the next washout was.

When I got to our place, water was roaring off the hill in 3 places along our driveway like Niagara Falls.

Jeff beat me home and met me at the door. He said our basement laundry tub was full to the top with sewage water. We recently emptied our septic tank, but it must have been so overwhelmed by the massive water infiltration it took the path of least resistance into our basement sink. He sucked a few loads out of it with the ShopVac and took it outside. It looks like the sink overflowed, but just a wee bit. We really need a backup preventing valve on that sink.

This morning I could see some of the houses along the lake have no lawns because they are part of the lake now. Our driveway is even more washed out than it was before. Jeff drove to work and told me said he’s never seen flooding like this since we’ve moved here. He said the water is right up to the main road in a few places, and he saw a sideroad washed out and a person getting around in a canoe.

Car Update

Dad was able to contact a Chrysler mechanic through our car dealership family friend. That mechanic said he has NEVER replaced a strut on a Caliber. So what is going on with the mechanics in Nova Scotia? They also agreed though that there is no quality or redeeming value of a Chrysler so I won’t be buying the Patriot. I’m going to fix the car and take my time finding a replacement that will last forever and ever.

Flood Update

The school where Jeff works is sending a bus home at noon today because of flooding. I guess the flooding from all the rain is getting worse as the water travels towards the coast?

Maybe the weather is just cheap entertainment?

Weather, , , ,

I don’t know, but I’m excited by it. Easily.

We have THREE weather warnings right now. A Wind Warning, a Storm Surge Warning, AND a Rainfall Warning.

Winds up to 100 km/hr tomorrow, rain tonight and tomorrow could be up to 100mm, thunderstorms, AND the Northumberland St. shoreline and Cape Breton should be expecting high waves and pounding surf that could cause local flooding, beach erosion, and will likely damage shore structures.

AWESOME!

Awesome that we aren’t living on the shore, that is!

Too bad we’ll have to be at work during the storm tomorrow. And no Dad, I’m not going to go stand on the shore and take pictures for you. Tempted, but not-gunna-do-it.

Do you want to know what isn’t awesome? Listening to someone’s car alarm for FIVE HOURS. Someone is parked in the parking lot outside my window and they must be sitting on their keys. Their car alarm keeps starting and stopping. For hours and hours and hours and hours. I’ve checked my keys a dozen times to make sure it isn’t me. I can’t tell what car it is. I’m surprised there aren’t 15 students with sledgehammers standing on it. Maybe it isn’t mid-term season quite yet.

Got rain?

Weather, ,

It is STILL raining! And here is our forecast for today:

Rainfall warning for
Antigonish County issued

Rain at times heavy giving total rainfall amounts of near 50 millimetres for these regions today and tonight.

This is a warning that significant rainfall is expected or occurring in these regions. Monitor weather conditions..Listen for updated statements.

A band of rain at times heavy and embedded thundershowers is forecast to persist over these regions today and tonight giving near 50 millimetres of rainfall. Some localities may see higher amounts. There is a possibility of severe thunderstorms with the main threat being very heavy downpours.

Severe thunderstorm watch for
Antigonish County continued

This is an alert to the potential development of severe thunderstorms with heavy downpours giving high rainfall amounts in a short period of time.

Monitor weather conditions..Listen for updated statements. If threatening weather approaches take immediate safety precautions.

A band of rain at times heavy and embedded thundershowers is forecast to persist over these regions today and tonight giving near 50 millimetres of rainfall. Some localities may see higher amounts. There is a possibility of severe thunderstorms with the main threat being very heavy downpours.

Leaving for work in about 45 minutes – I’m sure the rivers must be raging. Wonder if the water is over the road anywhere?

HEY! I wasn’t shakin’ my rain maker!

Weather, ,

The forecast was only calling for 10-20mm of rain tonight, but WOW did we just get dumped on, hours before I thought the rain was supposed to arrive.

It poured and poured and then it poured more and then it had the audacity to pour even MORE!

There were a few nice bolts of lightning too!

I had to work late, and by the time I got home around 6:30 the basement was half covered in water. The drain in the basement walk out was blocked! Something flowed in the river that became the back stairs and blocked up the drain. I popped out the drain and let the torrent of water go elsewhere.

I just walked around our yard to survey the damage. There is a river/waterfall coming down off the hill straight behind our dining room window. Luckily all of that water is hitting our ditch and heading south. By the time I was midway across our front lawn, I could hear a thundering waterfall. I walked down our damaged driveway, and realized that noise was coming from the ditch that runs along side our driveway. Several waterfalls are tearing down the hillside and filling up the ditch. It is flowing down to the culvert under the road like Niagara Falls.

Jeff was out in the rain digging new trenches across the driveway, trying to divert the rain from slicing new trenches through our gravel, but it seems the water took its own path.

The power flickered here, but it looks like there are outages all over the province, and the roads are flooding all over.

And now it’s raining again!

I love weather :-)

Big Island…. is an island again

PhotoBlog, Weather, , ,

Back in August 2009, one of our weekend wanderings brought us to Big Island, Nova Scotia.

Big Island is located northwest of here, in Pictou county, on the Northumberland Strait. You can drive to the island because it is connected to the main land with a long sandy causeway, armed on one side with a breakwall of wood and rocks.

You can see Big Island straight again in these photos we took:

Big Island

Big Island

Well I guess those rocks were no deterrent to last night’s storm surge because this is what that same area looks like today (photo source):

Big Island

See more photos here: Pictou County’s only way to Big Island washed away in storm surge

There are several homes on the island and the residents are stranded for now. The road is completely washed away in one spot, and the telephone cable along the causeway was destroyed.

We’ve weathered this last storm fairly well. There wasn’t as much rain as they called for, and although the wind gusts were from the north this time, there wasn’t any damage here. We lost power for a few hours on Monday after work, but we’ve been fine since then. This storm is continuing into tomorrow – Thursday! The biggest problem is all the flooding in the Northumberland Strait from the high tide, full moon, and storm surge combination.

Read more about the damage and Big Island:
Stranded: Residents along shore cut off by storm surge (The News)
Storm surge washes out Big Island Road (CBC)