Scenes from the weekend

 Some folk may have read about our Friday in the studio 'going to custard' over at Barry's blog, but I will document some of it here for my own records.

It's been raining. We have been caught in a massive low depression that is very slow moving. On Friday I was sitting in the studio watching rain outside; watching walls leak that have never leaked; watching the creek near us rise like I've never seen it, feeling edgy and uneasy. My access to the internet via my phone was gone and I couldn't text or message anybody. It was unnerving and unsettling.

I rang and asked Barry to check the radar to see if it would pass; or if the heavy rain was setting in for a bit.  It looked like it was here for the duration so he offered to come and collect me. It was the first time I had felt unsafe at the studio. By the time he arrived I had discovered significant water seeping into the studio underneath the type cabinets and so we had to really get going.

Raincoats on and we were off to dig trenches and drains to divert the water away. Scrambling to dig with sticks and stones we worked for an hour in torrential rain. The were fewer waterfalls by the time we finished!

Back inside we were mopping up - the water was headed for the piece of carpet the big old Lightning Jobber sits on and we knew that if it got wet, we could never move the carpet given the press is so heavy. We have never been so grateful for having concrete floors! Here I am still covered in muck.

By the end of Friday we could head home - with dehumidifier on; the air conditioner on dry and things looking settled. We had had 277mm of rain that day and overnight (12 inches).

Saturday it was still raining and we checked the studio - all good.  Only a small bead of water left beneath the type cabinet so we popped some blotting paper in to draw the last of it out. We thought.

I left Barry there but about 2pm I got the call - the water's inside again - so I dashed down and we were out again in the downpour trying to keep it at bay.

It has been described as a 'rain bomb'. We had about 100mm (4 inches) of rain in half an hour - I have never witnessed rain like that.

We moved a bunch of things to 'higher ground' 

Mopped madly for abit; dried off around leakage areas; and again, we left in the late afternoon with mission accomplished; this time there had been two breaches and we had added a fan to our arsenal drying equipment.

On the way home we stopped by the bridge in town to see how it was faring - the water was right up against the top board - creating waves and backing up.

Sunday morning and we had had another 12 inches (285mm) of rain in the previous 24 hours. Seriously sick of it; but it had finally moved on and we were left with the smallest of showers and drizzle all day. Brisbane and those south us are now flooding and its awful down there. One of Barry's nephews got out by canoe.

Just to the left of our driveway as we head into the studio this tree on this van.

We know how fortunate we are; and how small our worries are in the bigger schemes of the world and others' terrible flooding (the flood level at Gympie is 23m - about 70 feet, so many people evacuated, roads washed away and homes flooded throughout south east Queensland), but it was dramatic enough for us.

Grateful to be home, and warm and safe and dry.