I am currently looking after lovely cats and a dog in rural southern England. The house is right next to the river (it’s an old water mill), and the area is prone to flooding. I knew this before accepting, and the owners gave me very clear instructions about what to look out for and how to deal with various issues.
For the last couple of days it has been pouring with rain, and the water levels have been rising… I had to put up the floodgates and keep a close eye on the situation. All rather exciting!
This morning the sun is out and the water levels have drastically receded.
Well, that adds a bit of excitement to your sit @Rhe! Glad it was well covered by the owners and, as your say, you knew its location was by the river being an old mill, so knew what could happen. Great photos! Hope no more rain so you can enjoy Christmas and not be on flood alert.
We have a regular sit in the UK and a river flows through the garden. We have seen both extremes this year, very low levels which were hazardous for the trout population and also a flooded garden and wine cellar but they did have submersible pumps in there.
They told me a funny story that many years ago his grandfather lived there and the wine cellar flooded. All the labels came off which took blind wine tasting to a whole other level
There have been previous threads about such, with loads of suggestions. They should be findable with the magnifying glass and searching for terms such as “natural disaster.”
Relatedly, in the past week or so in the U.S. Pacific Northwest, there has been severe flooding involving levees breaking and mass evacuations as homes have been deluged by overflowing rivers. Landslides have destroyed parts of multiple roadways. Some communities have been cut off. And trees have fallen on some homes as the ground has become saturated and made roots unstable.
That type of destruction might affect some current sits, as well as ones for months to come. If I had a sit scheduled in the region, I’d check in with the hosts. Of course, if a sit isn’t imminent, I’d give the hosts some breathing room before checking, in case they’re dealing with an emergency now.
Be careful if driving in flooded areas. There have been instances of people being stranded or washed away in serious floods past. During the latest one in the U.S. Pacific Northwest, a man died, because he ignored roadway closure signs and drove into a flooded road. A witness said he ended up getting out of his car and then disappeared underwater. His body was later recovered.
We have a saying “if it’s flooded, forget it” There are often serious floods somewhere in Australia and equally people continually ignore warnings and drive into flood water. It’s very risky.
“People who live near flood-prone roadways should be aware of the dangers that even just a few inches of water on the roadway can cause. It only takes 6 inches of fast-moving water to sweep an adult off their feet, and only a foot of water to carry away most cars, according to National Weather Service.”
About 15 years ago I was caring for some animals on a workaway type trip, and woke up in the small hours to find that the whole world was gently bouncing up and down. A cast-iron woodburner/cooker in my sleeping quarters was rocking backwards and forwards and threatening to overbalance.
My sleep-fuddled brain took me back to learning about earthquakes for Geography GCSE and told me that I either needed to get under the bed or outside. I opted for outside, where the horses I was looking after were all looking very confused, and standing there frozen mid-chew whilst they too processed what was happening.
I later found out that what we were experiencing were the shockwaves of an earthquake measured at 8.8 on the moment magnitude scale, some two hundred miles away.
BTW, if you’re ever caught in a flood while driving, immediately roll down your windows. That’s because floodwaters can quickly cut off your controls and you could end up trapped inside as water pressure keeps you from opening car doors to escape.
I remember a horrifying story of a poor woman who was heading home from work in the dark and unknowingly driving into floodwaters and ending up trapped. She was on the phone with an emergency worker and they couldn’t find her fast enough. The 911 call recorded the frantic conversation before she drowned in her car, leaving her young kids as orphans.
Just an FYI for the future and others, during an earthquake it’s all about getting yourself somewhere where things can’t fall on you. Thus, it’s rarely a good idea to be outside at all unless it’s somewhere open, so no trees, power lines, buildings, etc. Heading from the inside to the outside you’re exposing yourself to indoor things falling on you as the earthquake is already in full swing by the time you start running out.
It’s almost always best to just stay inside and get under a strong piece of furniture that can protect you from anything falling. But again, don’t leave the bed to head for a piece of furniture meters away if things are already falling. Protect your head and neck as best you can in the bed if you can’t quickly get under it.
You had the added “if” of a presumably active stove potentially knocking over and catching things on fire so going outside might still have been the safest thing in your very specific scenario!
(I’ve lived all of my life in various earthquake-prone cities and have been through many, many earthquakes.)
Right! I just this past minute checked in w a new year’s cat sit in pt. Reyes to tell them Not to fret if they needed to cancel because of the weather, etc! Whoa!
Yes, we were trained as kids to hide under a bed, a strong table or in a door frame. Also stay away from tall bookcases and such that could tip over and crush you.
Extreme weather is a hazzard of travel and we’re seeing more of it lately, so it’s not surprising that many sitters have encountered situations because of weather.
If I was planning a trip, sitting or not, I’d check out the usual weather for that time of year in my destination, but that won’t always tell you the whole story. (I’ve seen sits in the Carribean that sound fabulous but in “hurricane season” no way.)
On our last sit in Seattle we expected a mild fall with some rain. We got a “windstorm” that led to a power outage. Not a big deal as the power was only out a few hours, and the homeowner who got an alert called us and was super helpful in heloping us find flashlights and extra blankets. She even had a neighbor drop by a phone charging device as my spouse was almost out of juice.
Meantime a few days later after we’d left the sit and were enjoying a hiking trip in the Olympic Nat’l Forest, the weather nationwide was awful and there were additional issues due to the government shutdown. My sitter made plans for a slightly earlier flight home thinking she coud beat the weather, and wound up spending hours at the airport and getting a hotel voucher for the night. Our flight back was delayed. Fortunately, when the sitter told me she’d be leaving earlier, we called a neighbor and asked her to give our cats dinner as the gap would be long if we got delayed.
My takeaway as a sitter: This was my second power outage as a sitter, so I’m now more careful about keeping phones charged and knowing where the flashlights, and extra blankets are in advance!
My takeaway as a homeowner: Make sure sitters can easily find what they need in case of an emergency such as a power outage. Make sure there is a super easy to put in place Plan B if a sitter has to leave early or if we’re delayed getting back.
I live just north of Pt Reyes and although we are supposed to get a lot of rain this week we don’t have anything like the PNW is experiencing! Still it’s good to be cautious as road closures and downed trees are not uncommon around here. I’m near Tomales and the Estero Americano runs in front of us. During even minor flooding the current is deceptively strong as it is affected by tides. We typically don’t travel this time of year, partly because I worry about sitters getting into trouble on our flooded roads or having to deal with power outages (we have solar and battery now, which helps). Thankfully we’re above the flood zone but sometimes can’t get out of our little town as the two roads out are flooded LOL
Our power went out a couple of nights ago, during a storm. Happily, we have a generator and charging devices (the Jackery brand is well respected among many with RVs, for example).
Our internet is on two electrical backups, so we were able to surf online and Netflix the whole time, which was happily short.
And instead of relying on candles, which are a leading cause of house fires, we used these USB-chargeable lights, which can run from 20-40 hours on one charge, depending on which brightness level you choose. They’re great for outdoor dining as well. There are many similar lights sold at reasonable prices.
When I go on sits, I carry portable chargers, including a solar one, and have a backup phone that I always keep fully charged.
BTW, having one of these could be potentially life-saving in the U.S. in case of disasters.
I grew up mostly living along the Ring of Fire, known for intense seismic activities, and used to work in news, helping to cover many disasters, so believe in being prepared. There are many types of these radios and they work when you can’t get info otherwise about disasters.
A few years ago I listened to a podcast called The Big One, produced in LA, about ways to survive and earthquake and its aftermath. The tips really stuck with me. You can listen here: The Big One: Your survival guide | LAist
We’ve got a sit on a riverbank at New Year in the UK, we’ve done quite a few, we love these types of sits. But this upcoming place is possibly the most prone to flooding out of all of them like this where we’ve sat, a sitters life is never dull
Still it’s good to be cautious as road closures and downed trees are not uncommon around here. I’m near Tomales and the Estero Americano runs in front of us. During even minor flooding the current is deceptively strong as it is affected by tides. We typically don’t travel this time of year, partly because I worry about sitters getting into trouble on our flooded roads or having to deal with power outages (we have solar and battery now, which helps). Thankfully we’re above the flood zone but sometimes can’t get out of our little town as the two roads out are flooded LOL
