Yesterday, our house awoke to a massive downpour, replete with lightning and thunder and much-too-dark-ness for seven in the morning. I snapped a pic to show our city council woman, who also happens to be a friend who lives at the top of our street:
As it is such an old city, Montreal has some sewer issues… but no system can catch up with so much rain at one time – especially when the streets slant downward from Mount Royal.
I was a bit disheartened at the thought of having to re-seed our front lawn, which Martin had JUST done over the weekend… le sigh. The forecast called for more thundershowers during the day. I planned to stay close to home with Madame, and we picnicked on the balcony yesterday while the sun shone and shone. Weather-wise, we’d been spared all day, so I began to fret about impending rain for Oliver’s soccer game at 5 PM.
Shortly after 4 PM, the clouds started to roll back in, and it got darker. You could smell that pre-storm smell, and there was a bright outline around everything standing against the sky. Super-storm. Not good.
But, soccer still hadn’t been cancelled for the day, and it was my turn to bring the snack – rocket popsicles for everyone – but I had a feeling we would all get completely soaked before we even got to the pitch… me running alongside my two Littles on bicycles… as I stood on my front steps with my hand outstretched, feeling the first drops around 4:30, I called to say I wasn’t coming. I mean, there was lightening in the forecast. I don’t like to screw around with lightening and open fields, you know? (And yes, within minutes they cancelled the game, of course.)
But I had no idea what we were in for. The clouds burst open with black rain that was just incredible to watch. And watch we did!
It had mostly stopped raining by 6 PM, but there was a serious lake on our street again, and all I could hear were sirens from ambulances and fire trucks whining all over the city… it was serious!
Manhole covers flew off as geysers of water shot out of the sewers. People were stranded everywhere, and had to abandon cars in the middle of traffic. My husband walked through the concourse of his office building, and water was streaming in through the pot lights overhead… shop keepers were using janitorial brooms to push the water out of their stores. There was water ankle-deep in on the Metro platforms.
It was crazy out there… check out this video link – it’s about a minute and a half long. WOW!!
Martin and I helped mop up at a neighbour’s place across the street… she had water pouring in on all three levels of her house. Her floors were already starting to buckle by the time we got there. They’ve just finished a two-year renovation. I couldn’t watch as Martin used a gyp-saw to cut a hole in her bedroom ceiling to let the water out. We ate our dinner at 10:30 last night.
(Cue sad trombone.)
The whole thing made me feel less bad about the mess in our own basement – when it rains like this, we sometimes get storm water forced back through sinks and toilets, which is a horror for the carpeting, but it’s not flooded, as in seeping in under the doors and a completely drenched mess. It’s nothing a heap of towels couldn’t fix. I’m annoyed at the fact that all the piles of un-filed receipts, papers, and artwork and things were sitting in an inch of water on the countertop… but there are worse things.
We will need to re-seed the lawn this weekend though. And add more topsoil too. Boo!!
Seriously though, I feel grateful. Things can always be so much worse, you know.
Ever had a flood?
I am kind of sad to have missed the adventure (though I’ll bet you didn’t enjoy it). I had to watch it on YouTube.
The last time this happened was I think 1989 when I saw hundreds of cars abandoned at crazy angles on the Decarie expressway. The water was just deep enough that they floated and then settled. With the expressway closed and most other access to my part of Montreal from where I was in Ville Saint-Laurent under water I was trapped north of the train tracks.
Eventually for amusement I drove at top speed under a train bridge towards a huge puddle. I was in a heavy 4×4 AMC Eagle and I meant to peel off a wave that would make the opening scene of Hawai Five-Oh look lame. Instead I was brought to a gasping, seatbelt compressing halt in about 15 feet with the hood of my truck nearly under water. Heheh.
Indeed… that’s CRAZY!! I can’t even… that’s so strange. I hope if her suspicions are correct, they’ll be back to replace it with sod! Ack.
at least your front lawn wasn’t stolen… http://pakagri.blogspot.ca/2012/05/womans-front-lawn-gets-stolen.html