Storms!

Last Wednesday and Thursday there were storm warnings. On Wednesday there was an electrical storm bouncing around, and – quite literally – six drops of rain (Ian and I felt three each when we were sat outside in the evening). On Thursday afternoon the rain came – it was proper Extremaduran rain, but we didn’t have any hail, which is always the problem – and we didn’t flood so I didn’t think there were too many problems.

So I was a little surprised to see this photo of Bienvenida:

where the whole of the center of the village flooded.

But it did remind me of the first time Mum and Dad visited and we experienced proper Extremaduran rain. After, Mum and Dad went out for a walk and we asked them where they had been, and they said along side the river. Which confused us because there isn’t a river here. However, we hadn’t experienced the storm drains after proper rain – they do become proper rivers!

There are other photos of cars which got washed into ditches, into trees etc by the strength of the water. Of course, because there’s no wooden floor boards or skirting boards, and because electric cables in homes are hand height, there would be very little damage. Also, the flooding was caused by massive hail stones blocking drains, so the water ran away quickly when it they melted, so there’s no standing water, So the clean-up would be annoying, but nothing in comparison with Carlisle.

There are lots of photos in the news website showing pictures of the hail – this is what causes the problem. It’s generally hail that used to make us flood – it blocks the drains and there’s nothing you can do. The raised back step has made a huge difference.

So we got off very lightly!

Things are back to normal now with the weather forecast showing lots of smiley suns for the foreseeable future.