225mls Later

We have been hoping for a decent shower of rain following a prolonged dry spell.  There hasn't been any real rain here on the Sunshine Coast for well over 6 months.  Heavy consistent rain has now occurred.  Since the rain started overnight Thursday we have now had a further 225mls of rain and more is forecast to come.

The rain gauge is almost worn out.  I emptied out around 50mls last night before going to bed at 11pm.  This morning there was almost another 90mls in the gauge.  Along with the rain has not only come cooler weather, but also incredibly high humidity.  It continues to rain outside but the inside humidity reading is over 90%.

We have a strong gusty wind as well.  The wind is so gusty we really need to keep the front door and any front windows closed.  As friends were leaving last night, the heavier rain just began.  Around 20 minutes later we checked the passage way here at the house and the floor was wet for up to 6 metres inside as strong winds blew the rain in via the open front door.

The new concrete area and the drainage system we had included has had a fine and successful test.  Despite around 9" of rain, the pool has never overflowed, but has managed to keep draining excess water at a rate strong enough to prevent any overflow.  No water is running back into the pool from the new concrete side at all, any water falling there is being channelled to the drain we had installed with the new area.

At no time has our little street looked like flooding as it has done in the past.  I suspect that this is probably due to the new estate and improved storm water handling. At no time has there been any concern for our little house.  However the danger time is still not over.  It is expected the weather will clear the Sunshine Coast overnight tonight as the weather system makes its way south and into northern NSW.

The front lawn as the picture shows still looks a mess.  The grass still alive is growing well but it may take some time and some lawn feed to get the bare areas to grow again. Click on both photos for a larger view.

We had friends Ian and Kerrie over for our Australia Day celebrations last evening.  It was lots of fun, with great food which Trish and Kerrie had provided.  As usual there were plenty of drinks.  I am now able to have music playing from the media player but have the TV on.  This enabled us to listen to heaps of 'oldies' but also to keep an eye on the Women's Tennis final and the ODT20 cricket match.

I cannot get over the versatility that the new $200 Yamaha AV Receiver now provides for my audio system.  I can virtually listen to whatever I want but have the TV going on a completely different channel.  The AV Receiver is an amazing and versatile piece of equipment.

The Computer Club was a little quiet yesterday with the holiday long weekend and the wet weather.  One guy found every time he opened Firefox it would freeze.  To solve the problem we needed to do a total uninstall, i.e. remove not only the program but all his private profile Firefox profile settings as well.  Most likely there was a Firefox Addon that was causing a conflict.  And then there were the usual problems with email programs as well!

Upon my return home from Computer Club on Saturday I forced myself to do a home brew bottling.  Bottling was the last thing I wanted to do early Saturday afternoon.  The weather was sticky and wet but right now I am glad I did it and got that job out of the way.

Today will be spent quietly.  There is a Cricket ODI from India on later today which will suit me.  The scheduled cricket match between Qld and Tasmania due to be played in Brisbane this afternoon won't happen!  It is too wet!

And tonight we have the final of the Australian Open Men's tennis.