Lock-down Day 681

If you thought being stuck outside the gate for an hour was the worst to happen this weekend - well, I thought so, too. It wasn't!

It got much, much, MUCH worse!

Around nine, it started to rain again. I didn't think anything of it ... power dipped. Twice. Then it went off. That was quarter to ten. As I was still awake, I figured I might as well report it.

Three power outages in one day! On top of load shedding! You think that's bad? Well, yes, but no more than an inconvenience.

It carried on raining, and I went to sleep. I woke about two hours later ... put my feet on the floor and felt ... wet! At first I thought Mewthos had sprayed my house shoes ... sigh ... I wish that had been all!

The whole room was under water! I got up, explored - with my LED torch ... and found that the whole house was under water! I went outside, and found myself in the middle of a river! Water was flowing over the car port, across the driveway ... onto the veranda (where the water stood ankle deep!) and in front of the veranda. I'm not joking! Turns out this river flowed under my front door into the lounge ... then, as the water rose, it went through the kitchen and flooded bloody every room!

Although this is outside, this is pretty much what my lounge looked like! All that muddy water flowing through!

Yeah, when I first got up and saw the damage, I first started shoveling water off the floor into the bath - I figured it makes no difference where I start, so might as well make it easy.

Then I noticed that the water in the bedrooms & bathroom was warm, whereas the lounge was cold. That's when I realised that it must all have come from under the door ... and very, very fast! I mean, it was around eleven, when I last  went into the lounge; and it was dry. It wasn't yet one, when I found the place flooded!

So, I started pushing the water out of the lounge, through the front door, with the mop. I was making headway, the lounge was almost dry ... when the rain picked up and water came flooding in faster than I could push it out!

I tried my best to block the gap under the front door, opened the back door and started pushing the water out back! I just, just managed to prevent more water getting to the bedrooms ... but the entire lounge was ankle deep under water. Again!

I pushed water out the back, shoveled water into a bucket with the dustpan ... for five hours! And all, with nothing but my LED torch. No power!

That's from the veranda. At six this morning! Around five I tried to take a nap - I was absolutely knackered, and at least no more water was coming in. It was still raining, but not as hard as before ... I couldn't sleep. So, I got up and made myself coffee. Gas cooker. Then I took some photos ... 

I didn't have the courage to even open the garage, though ... where all my boxes are stored ...

Ziva and Mewthos valiantly stuck by my side, splish splashing throught the puddles ... covering everything with muddy paw prints ... soaking everything in the process. My bed, my clothes, the whole arm chair - blanket and all ... 

Oh, my PC? Well, I always keep that on a flower pot stand, so none of it touched the water. Oh, some cables did ... but with the power outage, nothing happened. I unplugged them, of course, dried everything thoroughly and left it to air dry ... as you see, PC is fine!

I did message my landlord to let him know what happened. It's his house, just thought he would like to know. Just keeping him informed, nothing more ...

Not half an hour later, help arrived! He sent some guys to help me get the water out and clean up - and he dug around the east to stop the river.

We opened the garage door ...

This was taken around eight, when the worst of the water had already run out ... Ankle deep, muddy water throughout the entire garage!

One of his guys started shoveling the water out of the garage. When he had got most of it out, I drove the car outside, and we started retrieving boxes. First the one's off the top, that were still totally dry.

We put those all into the laundry - the only room that was totally dry! No water had run in there ...

Then came the damaged boxes ... I just want to cry! Precious books. Precious memories. Precious ... parts of my life! Soaking, soaking wet!

While the help is shoveling the water out of mippies bedroom, I'm sorting through the boxes ... and I just want to cry. I'm packing dry off the top in one box, damp in another, and soaking wet in yet another box ...

Half past eleven the electricity finally comes back on! Which puzzled me a bit, as we were supposed to have load shedding till twelve? Apparently they went down a Stage. So power will only go off from six to eight tonight.

Right now, I'm trying to restore a little bit of normal. I've washed a load of laundry - okay, so not just the week's laundry, but everything I picked up off the floor as well, plus, of course, the laundry basket. I've washed the kitchen floor as best I could. Yeah, there is still mud in the corners and the hard-to-get-to places ... but it took several washes just to get the mud out!

Which reminds me. The whole night and today, I had to walk through my house barefoot. And take teeny tiny little steps ... or risk slipping in the mud! Mud and water is very, very slippery! And, of course, all the while with nothing but a portable LED torch ... 

Oh, did I say I'm trying to restore a bit or normal? Not true! All I'm trying to do is damage control. Get to everything, separate the dry from the damp from the soaking wet ... place them where they'll stay dry or can dry out ... yes, I washed the kitchen floor, but I'm using the kitchen to hang my laundry. Wouldn't want to drop a freshly cleaned item onto a muddy floor! And get basic services back on track - like being able to bath (I had tossed the soaking wet bath mats in there), I'll need clothes for work ... though I think I'll probably take Monday off. I'll see how far I get by tomorrow ...

It's now past three and I still haven't slept ... I'm planning on a hot bath tonight, and hope I'll be able to sleep ... even in the damp, mud-paw-covered bed ... 

Right. It's twenty to five and I've achieved my goal. There is only one box left in the garage - and it's soaked through and through. I've opened and sorted all the others. There are still a few in the lounge that need to be sorted ... too much for today.

I was able to drive the car back into the garage, close the garage door - for some reason it won't lock. I locked the garage-lounge door. I can close both the screen door (or gate) and the front door. In other words: I can lock up tonight!

I got mippies in very, very early! Ziva was a bit puzzled, but didn't put up a fight. I've had a very hot bath - hotter than planned, but that did the trick. I'm not up to even frying dinner, so I'm just nibble some cheese ... Twenty to six, ready to call it a day. And I think I'll be able to sleep.