A Special Tuesday Edition of TTGG

Today I braved the post-thunderstorm heat and humidity to bring you a special Tuesday edition of Through the Garden Gate. Yesterday's pictures were pretty pathetic, taken as they were at what I thought during what I thought would be the last of the storms. Mother Nature had quite a surprise in store for me, though. If you read my Soggy Saturday post on the 18th, you'll know that heavy rain can lead to flooding not only on my corner of Katy, but throughout my neighborhood. Evidently those storms were merely a dress rehearsal for today's production, staged in the wee small hours of the morning. Soggy Saturday now looks like a gentle spring shower in comparison.

Around 2:30 a.m. I awoke to the sound of a downpour, accompanied by thunder and lightning. The wind blew open my front gate, giving me a view of the front sidewalk and glimpses of the garden on either side: most of what I could see was under water. The flooding usually stops at the end of the island bed set into the aggregate sidewalk but not this time. The rocks by my front gate were covered by water, although I think the beds on either side were spared. The water did come up to the recently built rock border surrounding the willow oak.
Looking out across the cul-de-sac I could see that the water was within a couple of feet of my neighbor's house. Another neighbor across the side street has 2 planter urns at the end of her sidewalk that are about 20-24 inches tall: they were submerged about 3 inches from the top. The street looked like a fast-flowing river: river rats would have enjoyed shooting the rapids of Laverton Drive. (I wish I could have gotten pictures but I wasn't venturing out into the lightning & thunder.) Marble sized hail fell for about 2 minutes at 3:45 am ... it was coming down hard enough that we worried about windows breaking. The storm finally moved on sometime between 5 and 6 am.

We weren't done dealing with it, though: when the Executive Producer got up this morning, he noticed some wet spots on the bedroom carpet and one of the mats in the bathroom. He assumed the garden terrierist was responsible.
I wish he'd been right. I walked into my closet and the carpet squished. Evidently the water came up so high on the south side of the house that it was over the foundation. I spent over an hour this morning pulling up the carpet and pad in the closet. The bedroom carpet is wet along that wall and I've got the dehumidifier running. We needed new carpet in there anyway but my closet carpet was in great shape until today. Let me tell y'all, if you've never lugged sodden carpet, it's not an experience I'd recommend.

So without further ado, let's take a little journey through the garden gate:

Comments

Yep, your path is covered over by beaten down plants. Actually, at least on film, they look like they came through it pretty well.
Gail said…
The video hurts my gardening heart for you! I do hope they perk up and start blooming again...Plants always surprise me! I keep imaging how farmers feel after a storm flattens their field. Yikes! gail
We can only hope things will recover in a few days...and that you find carpet you like!
Cindy, MCOK said…
Most of the plants out back are upright again. Some of the plants out front, though, have suffered from being inundated. The corner bed had the river rapids rushing over it and the drought tolerant residents are not happy!

I think I'm going out to look for carpet in a bit. I've got guys coming this afternoon to pull up the current carpet and pad. How we're going to get around in the bedroom without carpet, I have yet to figure out!
Anonymous said…
Wow, Cindy, what a description of that storm. I actually love dramatic weather events, even with the craziness that it brings. We haven't had any wild weather in south Austin in so many years that I can't literally can't remember one. I grew up in the DFW area though, so I can remember seeing the streets become rivers in a few hours of storms. I'm glad you are safe; and I definitely can sympathize with pulling up wet carpet; been there, done that, too! The good news is that homeowners insurance is great about new flooring once it gets wet. Stay dry, and hopefully your plants will get a bit of sun so they can dry out.
Frances said…
Hi Cindy, I am so sorry about your squishy carpet, yuck! But I remember how the plants could bounce back after those kinds of Texas downpours, amazingly resilient. Harder on humans though. Your garden still looks quite good, IMHO.
Frances
Rose said…
Oh, my, Cindy; I will now stop complaining about all the rain we have had. At least ours has been a more gentle rain, without the strong winds and lightning. I did look at your earlier video of your garden--just beautiful! I hope that the sun has come out by now, and your garden is recovering from the storm.
Anonymous said…
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