Stormy Weather.

18 hours ago · Lightning, giant hail and heavy rains have hit parts of South Australia, causing flash flooding and damage across the state, forcing the closure of a number of schools. A severe thunderstorm warning for the Adelaide region has been cancelled, but a severe weather warning for damaging winds remains in place for most of the state.

—————————————————————————————————————

This was the result of the thunderstorms that battered the state  all day Thursday and well into this morning (Friday) I  had a generally sleepless night during the gale force winds worrying about the two trees outside. As it happens they – thankfully – survived. I say thankfully because if they came down they would cause considerable damage. I am desperate to have them removed but I can’t find anyone willing to do this or that have the necessary equipment to do this. Early morning it was reported that  schools had damage to roofs and had to be closed and currently there are some 30,000 houses without power.

The hail storms were severe with some hail as big as gold balls, causing major damage. There is advantage in living in the arid lands – the weather gets ” grumpy” at times but is really nothing in comparison to what they get  down south. We don’t get the hail – which is something to be thankful for. Over in New South Wales and Victoria the storm front caused havoc with roofs collapsing under the weight of the water and the massive hailstones. The storm drains were unable to cope leaving the water no where to go but into houses and businesses. Over there they were talking 100,000 without power. Car repair people will be working for a long time to repair the damage caused to cars by the hailstones

Yesterday afternoon before the storms hit I removed everything I could from the back garden, including the removal of the canopy of the garden swing, which in  a good wind acts like a sail. I brought  Benji’s chair and stored it in the garage along with  all of the seat covers.  It is now 07:30 and as I look out of the window I can see that there is not even a breath of wind. A lot of damage across much of the state and I expect the clean-up will take some time. There was some wind when Benji and I went for our walk at 6am, but now – nothing.

Just shows you how the weather can make a liar out of people. Less than five minutes since I wrote the above sentence and it’s raining and a wee bit windy  LOL..  I have noticed that the rain is not falling down, well, yes, of course it is,  but it’s almost horizontal. If it gets any heavier I’ll have to go out and move things that I put under the carport for protection – I did!

The rain continued off and on for much of Friday but by the  mid afternoon it had cleared and Benji and I went for a drive then a  wander through the Ada Ryan Gardens. We didn’t stay too long since there was a  little bit of a wind – nothing much, but it was cold.  This  morning, no sunrise to speak of –  one minute it was quite light, next the sun was in the sky — no beating about the bush this morning.

Don’t think I ever mentioned that Thunder and Lightening doesn’t seem to bother Benji at all. I bought a Thunder Shirt for Chienna but it really didn’t help her all that much.  Thunder crashes and  Benji barely lifts his head. No idea what he would be like outside, but I’m not willing to find out  :o)