HelperElfMissy 42 Posted March 23, 2010 Share Posted March 23, 2010 I had an interesting day weather wise today... Started off horridly Humid and about 30 degree's, and then all of a sudden out of no where while I was driving home along West Coast Hwy, the heavens opened. Visibility dropped to about a meter, hail stones started battering my car and the water on the road was akin to a 'river crossing'. Unfortunately I only thought about whipping out my camera for a few wild weather snaps AFTER I stopped stressing about my windows getting smashed by the hail, and visibility returned. It also meant much less dramatic puddles to drive through - but you get the idea. Then when I got home, thinking the worst was over - I was safe inside my dry home... I found that it was raining INSIDE my house. I think we collected about 50 litres of murky water back washed from my gutters into the loft and through my downlights before it stopped. It was a wild ride ....even though it didn't last too long. Lightening pic taken from the balcony off my bedroom. Link to post Share on other sites
thursday 1 Posted March 23, 2010 Share Posted March 23, 2010 Get your contractor to fix that skylight. It should not be leaking like that. Sue him. Link to post Share on other sites
RobBright 35 Posted March 23, 2010 Share Posted March 23, 2010 sorry but one more important thing. you have a chandelier in your house?! Sorry couldn't resist. Just reminds me of the time I was 6 and decided to swing on my grandparents from the stairs, not realising it was a antique and ripping it from the ceiling. Link to post Share on other sites
HelperElfMissy 42 Posted March 23, 2010 Author Share Posted March 23, 2010 That is not a sky light Thursday. They are my electric downlights! Above that white roof and timbers is the loft, and second story of my house. The gutters could not cope (and were bizarrely full of leaves) and washed backwards into the roof cavity (loft) and the water followed the path of least resistance out through the gaps around the downlights. It has happened before - 100+ yr old houses are sometimes problematic in this area. But never to this degree while we have owned it. Might be time to call in a Roofing Plumber and have the whole job re-done. Link to post Share on other sites
HelperElfMissy 42 Posted March 23, 2010 Author Share Posted March 23, 2010 Originally Posted By: RobBright sorry but one more important thing. you have a chandelier in your house?! Sorry couldn't resist. Just reminds me of the time I was 6 and decided to swing on my grandparents from the stairs, not realising it was a antique and ripping it from the ceiling. Yes this a very old and expensive - and also very broken one - that the previous owners installed with a reno. I hate it, but it is just another job on the list of jobs to be seen to Link to post Share on other sites
thursday 1 Posted March 23, 2010 Share Posted March 23, 2010 Oh man, a skylight would've been so much more easy to fix. Damn. Link to post Share on other sites
HelperElfMissy 42 Posted March 23, 2010 Author Share Posted March 23, 2010 Ahhh... one of those things. My facebook home page is going mental at the moment. Lots of friends with water damage to ceilings, cars with smashed windows, hail the size of golf balls, tree fallen and crushed kids play equipment in the backyard. One friends wedding dress got drenched in her walk in robe! Joondalup Hospital ER roof collapse and at least 3 High Schools in the Metro area are closed for the next few days due to massive damage. Even if my dodgy 100 yr old gutters were the goods I doubt we would have got through this storm without SOME damage. However it does make me think a full refit from a roofing plumber might be in order - there are some much better products on the market today - ones with leaf guards and overflow systems to stop back flow. Link to post Share on other sites
HelperElfMissy 42 Posted March 23, 2010 Author Share Posted March 23, 2010 Wow!! We got almost 50mm of rain in my suburb in just marginally over 4 hours!! No wonder my gutters failed. In fact thereabouts of 40 of that fell in just one hour! Mean rainfall for March is just 20.7mm over 2.6 days. I hope that for all the damage there is a significant impact on our dam levels! Link to post Share on other sites
BagOfCrisps 24 Posted March 23, 2010 Share Posted March 23, 2010 Quote: My facebook home page is going mental at the moment. Lots of friends with water damage to ceilings, cars with smashed windows, hail the size of golf balls, tree fallen and crushed kids play equipment in the backyard. One friends wedding dress got drenched in her walk in robe! Shouldn't they be busy fixing stuff then, rather than posting updates of such things on t'inta? Find all that kind of stuff a bit mad myself. Link to post Share on other sites
HelperElfMissy 42 Posted March 23, 2010 Author Share Posted March 23, 2010 Fixing gonna be happening today BoC. Not much you can do in the middle of the storm, and even less in the dark of night. SES were pretty busy last night, sirens wailing constantly down the local Hwy. They would only be dealing with the most serious of cases. Not much to do except wait it out and catch up with friends, making sure they are OK. More than 150,000 homes lost power (including our business - calling all work to halt and meaning a very early morning this morning for Papa before boarding a plane for Japan tonight) - so there were a lot of people NOT able to access the interwebs - but for those that did it seemed a good thing .... they were all able to see that they were not the only one effected, and probably not the worst off. There is comfort in shared hardships. Link to post Share on other sites
BagOfCrisps 24 Posted March 23, 2010 Share Posted March 23, 2010 I see. Still, I findthe idea of updating stuff like that and forever being in front of a screen - of for more than you need to be - rather strange. I'm trying to do the opposite and reduce my time. Each to their own though. Sorry OT Link to post Share on other sites
RobBright 35 Posted March 23, 2010 Share Posted March 23, 2010 Says the man with over 5000 posts. Link to post Share on other sites
BagOfCrisps 24 Posted March 23, 2010 Share Posted March 23, 2010 Well. I'm not posting stuff about 'what I did today'. And, I did say I am trying to cut down on screen time rather than add to it. Whatever. Link to post Share on other sites
RobBright 35 Posted March 23, 2010 Share Posted March 23, 2010 Originally Posted By: BagOfCrisps Well. I'm not posting stuff about 'what I did today'. And, I did say I am trying to cut down on screen time rather than add to it. Whatever. Link to post Share on other sites
BagOfCrisps 24 Posted March 23, 2010 Share Posted March 23, 2010 good one Link to post Share on other sites
HelperElfMissy 42 Posted March 23, 2010 Author Share Posted March 23, 2010 Landslide at King Park up near Jacobs ladder. Just lost another substation and another 10,000 homes without power. Big event here today...not like I am reporting a little rainfall. Worst Storm in 50 years is the tag-line on the morning news programs today. Link to post Share on other sites
RobBright 35 Posted March 23, 2010 Share Posted March 23, 2010 Been wanting to post it for a while. Link to post Share on other sites
HelperElfMissy 42 Posted March 23, 2010 Author Share Posted March 23, 2010 Well... I thought I MIGHT be waxing my snowboard about now... but nooooo... I got to re-wax the floor boards in my entry hall this morning. Poor Papa's business is one of those effected by the Canning Vale substation being trashed - I suspect our friend Gareth OAU is also effected by that. Hope all is OK at your place Gareth! No power for about 16 hours now. Unlikely to get fixed any time soon. Rumor has it that there are parts required to repair it that will take a few days to arrive. Not exactly the best time for Papa to be getting on a plane really... ABC New Video from the storm Link to post Share on other sites
gareth_oau 2 Posted March 23, 2010 Share Posted March 23, 2010 hehe, had to come into work this morning, just so i could get on the internet! home is still without power, and a few neighbours had their ceilings collapse. we got by with a few damp spots on the ceiling, and had some fun hurling buckets of water at each other trying to get the pool from overflowing (oh, my son "accidentally" fell in!!) Link to post Share on other sites
HelperElfMissy 42 Posted March 23, 2010 Author Share Posted March 23, 2010 Glad to hear you are OK. I hope today was shopping day - less in the fridge/freezer! Link to post Share on other sites
HelperElfMissy 42 Posted March 23, 2010 Author Share Posted March 23, 2010 Oh Dear! The beautiful old windows of the historic Winthrop Hall at The University of WA got hammered!! Reaper was there when it was going on - lot of hail. And the Greenhouse at UWA .... oooops It sure was a fun afternoon... Western Power website says power is now on in Canning Vale. And I got a test email from Papa - probably getting the computer system back up. YAY! Hope your freezer contents didn't defrost Gareth. Time for me to stop cleaning and re-waxing the water effected floor boards, and pack my gear for Hakuba. Now lets hope the flights are back on track for us. Link to post Share on other sites
gareth_oau 2 Posted March 23, 2010 Share Posted March 23, 2010 will be assessing our Western Power claim once its all over. A few years ago, Western Power had a local transformer go, and we lost all of our perishables, they repaired it, we went shopping, and it blew up again, and lost all of our perishables a 2nd time in 3 days! Link to post Share on other sites
gareth_oau 2 Posted March 23, 2010 Share Posted March 23, 2010 still no power at our house! Link to post Share on other sites
HelperElfMissy 42 Posted March 23, 2010 Author Share Posted March 23, 2010 I didn't occur to me to put in a claim for the water damage repairs until I saw everyone else was calling their insurers - but I am glad I have pic's of the rain inside my house now - and I will sort a claim out when I get home. Link to post Share on other sites
HelperElfMissy 42 Posted March 23, 2010 Author Share Posted March 23, 2010 hmmm...doesn't look good for you then Gareth. The main substation is back on line. Papa's business has power. They are saying all the major lines will be up by 3pm this arvo, but the low voltage lines could take DAYS. Hope your problem is on a major line, and fixed today!! Link to post Share on other sites
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