3.01.2024 Yet another storm.

 ~o~

 Wednesday 3rd 37F/3C. Heavy rain and gales. Heavy snow is falling in the north. With heavy rain below a line through the middle of the country.  Up at 5.45 after being wide awake earlier. I could hear the wind roaring in the background. Though it may have been rain on the greenhouse roof. Gusts are not expected to fall below 20m/s until lunch time. Rain all day, continuing through the night until tomorrow morning. Not a day for fetching more logs. 

 The smart battery charger is out for delivery. While the national freight service has lost my replacement car battery!

 7.00 The stove is lit and going well. Only 60F/15C in the room earlier. Now up to 63F/17C. I have a runny nose. 

  9.45 No walk today. I can see the reflection of the grey sky in the water beyond the back garden. It only looks like large puddles seen from the house. Rather than continuous flooding. The water is visible for the first time through the bare trees. 

 I had to go out to empty the indoor bins and the wind is roaring. With the trees all rocking. It felt quite risky to be under the big trees as I attempted a quick photograph. Only to capture the foreground branches with my phone. 

 New images obtained using my Lumix G9 with 50-200 Leica lens. The flooding is worse than I thought at first. I went down to the NW corner of the garden. Where the flooding is clearly visible right up to my boundary. It is still raining and blowing a gale. I don't want to leave the house until my parcel is delivered. Then I'll go around to the other side of the flooding to photograph it from the raised viewpoint of new drive. 

 The beck was damming up with fallen twigs at the drainpipe under the earthworks yesterday morning. The original stretch of beck had a large iron grating where it disappeared underground. The beck was still a foot [30cm] below the surrounding ground level at that time. 

The entrance to the pipe is very difficult to reach at the bottom of a severe, muddy slope. I just hope there isn't a mud slide to block the pipe! The new ground was well rolled as it was built up in layers. Though that was not possible on the steeply sloping banks of the neighbour's massive new drive/earthworks.

 Snow is reported to have stopped the trains and buses in Jylland. The police are appealing for the public to remain at home where possible. Accidents are being reported on the motorways. With more snow accumulating and drifting in the gales despite constant snow ploughing and salt spraying. 

11.00 Later news reports that the M45 motorway is now completely closed. Schools are cancelling exams and more are closed due to the difficulty of reaching them though the snow.

 Elsewhere flooding is reported. With record rainfall this year, the ground is already saturated. So the heavy rain in yet another storm is swelling the rivers to bursting point. New run-off from surrounding slopes occurs far too rapidly. For the water to be carried away naturally by the river.

11.15 The battery charger was just delivered. GLS provide an exceptional service these days. The charger was superbly packaged and presented. So that it oozes quality and gives confidence in the purchase. The replacement car battery is still missing. It is supposedly coming by the national freight service. Not GLS. 

 The far side of the earthworks. The drainage pipe carries the beck under the embankment to exit just beyond the tree stump. There is usually only a little water visible. It disappears down a drain and exits about a kilometre away.

 

12.00 I have walked along the road to photograph the flooding from the far side. It was immediately obvious that the beck has burst its banks. It has now flooded the back gardens of the houses on the road. Fortunately these gardens slope steeply down to the beck. So are in no danger of the houses flooding. Not unless there is a flood of Noah-like proportions.

 The drainpipe was now filled to about 3/4 of its depth by the beck. So there is a much reduced margin for any higher flow. The original section of beck on the other side of the earthworks [image above] is high but still flowing. It was a real struggle to remain upright in the gusting, SE gale on the top of the embankment of the exposed drive! I was being blown about as I tried to take photographs. The rain could be seen moving across in sheets. Against the dark backdrop of the woods. 

 17.00 70F/21C in the room. There is snow forecast for this area in the early hours. The temperature drops below zero after remaining unchanged here all day today.

 20.00 Dinner was cheese on toast. Followed by whole tin of tomato soup and a bread roll. 

 23.00 34F/1C. No snow yet. They have had some serious snowfall and drifting in Jylland. Cars have been stuck for five hours on the motorway and counting. The police say they won't let anyone have to stay in their cars overnight. A bus with passengers has been stuck since 13.00! Another weather record has been broken. 50mm of rain hasn't fallen anywhere in Denmark one day since 1888. It will easily exceed that figure by midnight. 

 The whole house has been cooling off with the lower temperatures and gales outside. I'll add a couple of logs to keep the stove going for a bit longer. 

 BTW: They still haven't found my replacement car battery. Bed time. I feel very full!

~o~