When we first came up here in 1964 the summers and part of the spring seemed to be generally much wetter than now. There were occasional dry spells but never this dry. I remember a summer storm in 1966 when we just moved to this house when there was a storm for two hours that put 6" of rain in the transmitter rain gauge and our river flash flooded in the valley bottom....a similar amount of rain fell on Germany.
Because it was a lightening storm the 11kv overhead lines to the transmitter were lost and we had to run up the diesel alternators to maintain the transmission.
Down the road from here at one large house the dog was barking and when the guy went out to look the barn was flooded and when the door was opened the dog swam out.
They have now converted or are converting the barn to a cottage.
It surprises me how they are allowed to build on flood plains...the old houses were built by clever people who knew where house should be built even if their barns got water in them a couple of times a lifetime.
If the water ever gets into my garden I hope residents in the hamlet near the river have an Alf who is constructing an ark like some latter day Noah.
D.