One of the many reasons we left the UK was 6 months of constant rain and every dog walk was wearing wellies and a wax mac. At least in Cyprus we know it is only going to be a few days.
This morning I was woken at 4.30 am to the sound of torrential rain, thunder and lightning. I remembered that all the cushions were on the chairs under the terrace, so did a quick rescue mission on those before they were drenched. I then saw water was about to come through the kitchen window, so woke Mal to go and shut the shutters as the last time I did this and the wind caught them, I managed to break a piece off. Mal did fix it afterwards. Next thing I see Mal out in the garden, completely naked, shutting the shutters. A good thing we have no near neighbours and I suppose his sense of logic was correct, anything he wore would have been drenched!
The rain was torrential and just continued, so that we couln’t even take Rosie out for a long while. According to Nigel Heasman’s weather site, it was falling at the rate of 8mm an hour and I think most of that was down our chimney!
By 11.00am Rosie was crossing her legs, so waterproofs on and out we went. Not our usual walk but the devastation I saw on the way, one villa with the whole of their front wall collapsed and the plants uprooted, another drive with water pouring from underneath it and the block paving all lifting. Meanwhile Mal was on mopping duty in the living room, all the water coming down the chimney. As I walked back (Rosie and I drenched I have to add) I looked over into the ravine and where we walk was now a full flowing river! The water was also pouring down past the front of our drive.
By lunchtime we had half of February’s rainfall and a quarter of the years! I wondered what the rest of the day would bring! By the end of the day we had a third of the years rainfall in one day!
We recieved a text from Rhys to tell us that little Ollie was in hospital with suspected pneumonia. It seems Lou and Rhys were taking it in turns to be with him in hospital while the opposite number looked after the other children. They wouldn’t let Josie in during the day but thankfully allowed Lou to keep her there overnight. Poor Ollie.
We continued mopping the floor until late in the evening when the rain subsided but reading the bulletin board, one of the dams had overflowed and people had water up to their waists. Horrendous. Many didn’t get off as lightly as we did.
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