Sunday 5 January 2014

Soggy!

Everywhere you look there's standing water on the fields, little streams have over-run their banks and the ditches run in spate the minute there's a shower. The ground is extremely waterlogged as a result of the rain we've been having courtesy of the bad storms which are taking such a toll in the eastern part of the US. Thankfully, by the time these storms get over here to our corner of central France they've turned into blustery, sometimes stormy, depressions with lots of rain; but mild temperatures.
Outside we have standing water dotted round in little "ponds" where the clay soil is forcing the water to take its time seeping down to the calcaire [chalk] which lies underneath. The number varies from day to day, depending on how much rain we've had, but we can see them, out beyond the terrace, from the living room window.

However, these photos are of the flooding caused by the swollen ruisseau de la Fontaine de Saint-Flovier taken last Thursday. It runs from Saint-Flovier down to L'Indre at Fléré-la-Rivière.



22 comments:

Vera said...

Our geese would love to have a swim in your 'ponds'. We only have muddy pools here at the moment,but expect that to be remedied in the next few hours as we have just had loads of rain and the river is rising. Vx

Vagabonde said...

I was looking at your pictures of Scotland – how beautiful! I love the landscape and long to make a visit there as I have never been there. I made a note of the Lymond Chronicles and will place them on my books to read. You do have a lot of water in your area. Here, we are dry, so far, and I hope it stays so because we are supposed to get very cold weather in the next two days. Have a great 2014 and be happy!

the fly in the web said...

It made me shiver!
The river at the foot of the garden used to be in spate regularly every February...the islands would disappear...whopping trees would whizz past...and afterwards there would be standing water...the wind whipping flurries across the surface.
Brr!

Weather fit neither for man, nor beast nor cabinet minister.

Tim said...

There were swans on Lake Gatault last week, and the herons are spoilt for choice. The winter wheat next door is under Lake Bezuard and pretty well spoilt. As for our potager, clay over calcaire, it's saturated too. Yuck! P.

GaynorB said...

Same here, Antoinette and Niall!
Wet, windy (although nowhere near as bad as the coastal regions), making everywhere soggy and grey.

I hope things pick up for you soon. At least this will test if our terrace is still leaking!

Aussie in France said...

we put some "pas japonais" in our front garden to stop us tracking too much mud into the house with all this rain!

Jean said...

It's definitely weird weather. We had temps of 13°C in Loches yesterday, which is warmer than when we were there last Easter.
One thing's certain, it is what it is and it's nice not to feel frozen to the core, so long as you can cope with the mud.

MorningAJ said...

It's wet and windy here too. But fortunately we live at the top of a hill! I'm just glad it's not cold enough to snow.

rusty duck said...

We were out at the coast this afternoon, very wild weather indeed. But hopefully a bit of a respite towards the end of the week, if the weather men are right!

wcs said...

One of these days it just might freeze. Ugh!

Niall & Antoinette said...

@Vera - hope the river hasn't flooded too much.

Niall & Antoinette said...

@ Vagabonde - hope you enjoy the Lymond series.
The arctic vortex is making our news over here. Hope you aren't too badly affected by it.

Niall & Antoinette said...

@Fly - it's pretty scary when you see how fast large branches and tree trunks whizz past in a river in spate.
Very happy to live up on a ridge :-)

Niall & Antoinette said...

@ Tim - yup it is one squelchy affair right now.
Why they plant on a flood meadow remains a mystery.... the odds of getting a decent crop are surely not worth the effort. Much better to leave a pasture.

Niall & Antoinette said...

@ Gaynor - fingers crossed the repair work you did holds up.

Niall & Antoinette said...

@ Aussie - just getting wood from the woodshed is a bit of squelch but we have a nice line in indoor/outdoor shoes which are swapped at the frontdoor which helps.

Niall & Antoinette said...

@ Jean - temps have been 'balmy' for this time of year and it does mean we're using less heating but drier would be welcome! [..and don't shoot me, I (Antoinette) like snow, living in Scandinavia for a number of years did rub off on me]

Niall & Antoinette said...

@ AJ - we're on a ridge, but it's still a quagmire out there.

Niall & Antoinette said...

@ Rusty Duck - saw some of the storm footage along the UK coast on the news--scary stuff!

Niall & Antoinette said...

@ Walt - as long as it dries out a bit before it does, otherwise we'll be left with frozen mud soup!

Perpetua said...

You too? it seems as though most of Western Europe is one big flooded pond! We're having a bit of a lull at the moment and hope you are too, but there's been a lot of damage and disruption. Sigh....

Niall & Antoinette said...

@Perpetua - oh yes us too.... although the rain has eased off and we've got some sun [today is lovely so far] its very wet and claggy underfoot - the ground remains saturated. To top it all off as it is so mild the grass is growing!