Flooding - Storm Jonas has hit!

Wow the weather outside at the moment is something else. I’ve come in from spending the morning outside battening down the hatches as it were. With storm Jonas hitting my area tonight and tomorrow we’ve had to dig a trench around the chickens in the back garden and make sure everything is lifted up off the ground. We’re currently redesigning out back garden and even though we are at the top of the hill the battering and constant rain that we have had since October has taken its toll not just on our house and garden (am sure the house below has all my top soil now) but on our little village and surrounding area. I have a friend whose garden runs down to the river. He was planning on the last sunny day we had to take his canoe. I asked how he got on to the river. His reply "out the back door and two steps to the right!"

This is such a great site – Flood Watch which tells us just exactly where has been affected since storm Abigail earlier last year which took out my brother in laws ensuite! While December hit a record high with rain over its six storms it was only really storm Eva which wiped out our little bit of  West Sussex. With 149 flood warnings issued it seemed to hit everyone we knew and loved. My parents road – high up from rivers was affected, the village down from us has the walls of its river swept away and their homes built up against this flooded.  It also broke the back of local part of the river with the flooding spread wide across the fields and flood plains.

This was taken about 3 weeks ago. The house's in the bottom right today have water  almost up to the back door.

With this onset coming my mind flashes back to two years ago when the local roads flooded and Christmas eve saw me having to take a 3 hours detour to get home less ¼ mile from the flooded road where we had to turn round. I do adore living in the country but the rain that we have experience this winter has been extreme and incredibly tiring on country life. Driving through the villages today I suspect the same thoughts were in many people’s minds. Sand bags were out in force but having had your home flooded twice already this year it must be awful to see more forecast! If you have been affected by flooding do give a solicitor a call and see where you stand! Roll on a dry summer!