Just a little bit wet
On Wednesday 23 October we had the heaviest rainfall ever recorded here in Occitanie. 260 litres per square metre fell in ten hours. Just look at the ground for a moment and imagine a square metre. Then pile 260 litre bottles of water into that space. Then imagine it over 73,000-odd square kilometres. We live 250m beneath a 518m peak which means that we have an awful lot of accumulating water rushing past when it rains.
However, the forecasting app was spot on and we were well prepared with pumps in the cellar and I’d cleared the gulley that we cut around the land to carry off water quickly.
Nevertheless you’ll see how it was from the photos I took in moments when it wasn’t too, too wet for the camera.
The hens allowed me to corral them into their house so they’d be up and out of the water, albeit reluctantly.
I had the pump going full tilt for hours to clear the cellar. However, years of adding compost to the vegetable beds means that they are raised well above to ground so my vegetables survived, splashed with soil, but completely unscathed.
This was the 26th October, just three days later.
The gulley around the garden is still running, some five days later as is a source which popped up during the rain. This does not usually run but the land above us is still saturated so this is the run-off. There is a short explanatory commentary so you’ll need the sound on.
#potager #storm #hens #southoffrance
