The Big Storm

We woke up Monday morning to the sound of pouring rain and high winds.  Paul, with the help of Anthony, had worked very hard all week to prepare the lawn for seeding and finally got it finished on Saturday.  We were not prepared for the torrential rain; it had not been in the forecast but it turned out to be the tail end of hurricane Matthew.  We watched as the topsoil and grass seed were washed away.

Washed Out Lawn

It poured all day well into the evening.  I took this photo this morning, We had already moved this bench back 3 or 4 feet from the shore yesterday.  It shows how high the water rose in a short time.

Bench in Several Feet of Water

We lost power about 11:30 last night and it was finally restored today about 6:00 pm; just in time for the news so we could see all the places that had been flooded. Sydney received over 200 mm of rain; streets were flooded as well as many homes.   It will be months before everything is back to normal.  According to local people, this is the worse rainstorm they have had in years.  One man we spoke to has lived in his house for 60 years and has never had water in his basement.  Today he had water in his basement and he lives at the top of a hill. We are very fortunate; other then the top soil and grass seed being eroded and the power being out for a few hours, we didn't have any damages.  

At the height of the storm yesterday, my mum called me to say they were out of pills for my dad's restless leg syndrome.  This is something that really bothers him and causes him quite a bit of pain and discomfort.  I said I would take care of it.  The pharmacy they deal with was closed for Thanksgiving.  I called the pharmacist at home and arranged to meet him at the pharmacy to get a refill of his prescription.  We then proceeded up the Oban Road, 12 km of gravel, to their house. At several places on the road, at least 6 to 8 inches of water were running over the road. We had no way of knowing for sure how deep the water was or if the road had been completely washed out.  It was an act of faith crossing each of those places. When we finally got to their house, Paul ran in and said here are your pills and ran back out and back into the car so we could get home before the road got any worse.  The trip was quite an adventure.

Today, since they were out of power as well, we cooked up a pasta casserole using our BBQ, and took it up to share with them.  As soon as we finished eating, their power came back on.