Rain, Rain, Go Away, Come Back Another Day!
@RawBill1 (8531)
Gold Coast, Australia
December 5, 2010 2:46am CST
Well, I wish it would at least give us a break for a while!
Here in my part of Australia and most of the East Coast in fact, it has been raining pretty solidly for the last few days. This morning it was absolutely torrential and I had an archery competition to compete in! 
I eased my way along the free-way with windscreen wipers going flat out, then got to the club and drove through just over a foot of water which was flowing over the causeway near the entrance to our club grounds. There was hardly anyone there and we were concerned about the rising level of the water flowing over our access road, so we decided to leave and cancel the shoot. 
We were lucky to get out as it had risen even more. I was actually surprised that my car got through it!
This was a shame as it was supposed to be our Christmas Shoot which is a big event that we all look forward to each year. There are lots of trophies on offer for each category and now at our presentation night next weekend, there will be only half the amount of trophies given out for 2010 as there usually is each year.
I had a look at the Weather Channel on TV today and they are predicting this rain to stay for the next 16 days! Up until 5 days before Christmas! I don't know if we will get the chance to try and hold the event again before Christmas, but I would like to try.
When was the last time that the weather ruined your plans?
I eased my way along the free-way with windscreen wipers going flat out, then got to the club and drove through just over a foot of water which was flowing over the causeway near the entrance to our club grounds. There was hardly anyone there and we were concerned about the rising level of the water flowing over our access road, so we decided to leave and cancel the shoot.
We were lucky to get out as it had risen even more. I was actually surprised that my car got through it!
This was a shame as it was supposed to be our Christmas Shoot which is a big event that we all look forward to each year. There are lots of trophies on offer for each category and now at our presentation night next weekend, there will be only half the amount of trophies given out for 2010 as there usually is each year.
I had a look at the Weather Channel on TV today and they are predicting this rain to stay for the next 16 days! Up until 5 days before Christmas! I don't know if we will get the chance to try and hold the event again before Christmas, but I would like to try.
When was the last time that the weather ruined your plans?1 person likes this
12 responses
@MsTickle (25180)
• Australia
17 Dec 10
We've been pretty well isolated by flood waters for about 2 weeks Bill. I was able to do a client trip this past Tuesday but I was supposed to go the previous Thursday. The dirt road (the only road out) was supposed to closed to all traffic but our local copper said it was okay for me to go if I proceeded with caution.
Driving through the water on the causeways is pretty hairy sometimes. I worry about breaking down more than anything. It's not like I'm crossing a river where I could be washed away.
I shopped for groceries today for the first time in over 4 weeks. 
@MsTickle (25180)
• Australia
17 Dec 10
Sure can. Several weeks ago I was driving to Wee Waa and miscalculated the amount of water over one particular causeway. I hit it hard. My window was open and I was drenched. That was cool, funny and a shock all at once.
. My Astra sits low to the ground so 30 cms of water is about all I can handle
. My Astra sits low to the ground so 30 cms of water is about all I can handle1 person likes this
@RawBill1 (8531)
• Gold Coast, Australia
18 Dec 10
That would have been a shock! And funny to see! 
I have a commodore, so I am a bit higher. 40cm was not too bad, but it must have been about 60cm when I drove back out of the archery club the other week. Water over the bonnet is not a good sign and I still cannot believe that I made it through!
I was at a friends house last night and I saw his plastic splash shield that had torn off his Subaru after going through a causeway last week. He drove through it a bit too fast and then noticed a loud scraping noise once got to the other side. He got out in the pouring rain and looked under the car to find this shield hanging off, so he ripped the rest of it off and put it in his car.
I have a commodore, so I am a bit higher. 40cm was not too bad, but it must have been about 60cm when I drove back out of the archery club the other week. Water over the bonnet is not a good sign and I still cannot believe that I made it through!
I was at a friends house last night and I saw his plastic splash shield that had torn off his Subaru after going through a causeway last week. He drove through it a bit too fast and then noticed a loud scraping noise once got to the other side. He got out in the pouring rain and looked under the car to find this shield hanging off, so he ripped the rest of it off and put it in his car.1 person likes this
@RawBill1 (8531)
• Gold Coast, Australia
17 Dec 10
Hi MsTickle! Wow, I had no idea that you had been flooded in! I guess you have to be prepared well in advance for this kind of situation living in your area. 
We are going on a road trip on Boxing day and will be travelling either down the New England Highway or the Pacific Highway. Both of these roads can be blocked by flood waters as can the other option, The Newell Highway at this time of year, so we are going to have to keep an eye on things just before we leave.
I know lots of areas have been getting heavy downpours recently. Our consistent rain has stopped, we are now getting a more normal humid sunny morning followed by big storms every afternoon the last few days.
Driving through water is pretty freaky isn't it! 
I guess you have to be prepared well in advance for this kind of situation living in your area.
We are going on a road trip on Boxing day and will be travelling either down the New England Highway or the Pacific Highway. Both of these roads can be blocked by flood waters as can the other option, The Newell Highway at this time of year, so we are going to have to keep an eye on things just before we leave.
I know lots of areas have been getting heavy downpours recently. Our consistent rain has stopped, we are now getting a more normal humid sunny morning followed by big storms every afternoon the last few days.
Driving through water is pretty freaky isn't it! 2 people like this
@moonchild1au (6237)
• Australia
5 Dec 10
Tell me about it!!! I have been watching the weather channel too & I heard on the radio yesterday that it's not gonna ease for at least a week.
Yesterday, we went to Brisbane for a 5th birthday party at a pool - luckily they had an indoor heated pool as well so we could still let the kids swim. We also went back to our friends house afterwards & they are on acerage in Willawong so we kicked back there for quite a while...the only good thing with the rain was the mud so we got the dirt bikes out & hooned around the property.
@RawBill1 (8531)
• Gold Coast, Australia
5 Dec 10
Hooning around in the mud sounds awesome! How's your washing going this time? Strung up everywhere again like our house?
We shouldn't complain too much though. At least we have water in our dams now.
Flood or drought...never seems to be too much in between in Australia does there!
We shouldn't complain too much though. At least we have water in our dams now.
Flood or drought...never seems to be too much in between in Australia does there!@moonchild1au (6237)
• Australia
6 Dec 10
My washing is in the carport - well the clothes are anyway & my sheets & towels are dripping on the line - they were dryer when I put them out lol...I just don't see the sense in wasting electricity on my dryer unless it's an emergency.
We do get strange weather here & it's been a little cool for summer!! I am definitely dreading when the sun comes out as it's gonna be VERY humid!
@RawBill1 (8531)
• Gold Coast, Australia
6 Dec 10
There was about 20 minutes of sunshine yesterday morning here and it got very uncomfortable and sticky. And that was at 7am! When we get a full day of sunshine it will be extremely sticky!
We have a line strung up outside undercover but nothing is drying completely on that, so when they feel just damp, then I transfer them to the clothes horse inside for a final day of drying. Going to wash the towels today as they need doing, but I know they will not dry for days.
I can't believe I am wearing jeans in summer! 
@jwfarrimond (4473)
•
5 Dec 10
Your present downpour is obviously due to all those people chanting "rain rain go away come again another day" The "other day" has obviously arrived!
@RawBill1 (8531)
• Gold Coast, Australia
5 Dec 10
Aaahhh. Moment of realisation sinking in!
Of course it is! We keep putting it off with our songs and then when we subconsciously stop singing it collectively, down it all comes at once! 
Of course it is! We keep putting it off with our songs and then when we subconsciously stop singing it collectively, down it all comes at once! @RawBill1 (8531)
• Gold Coast, Australia
5 Dec 10
You might need to change the words Alice to Snow, Snow, Go Away!
@Aussies2007 (5336)
• Australia
5 Dec 10
Lucky you are not a farmer.
I hate to think what you would said if your best crop in 15 years and your house was under water.
@Aussies2007 (5336)
• Australia
5 Dec 10
I am lucky because I am in some hilly terrain and the water runs away in the valleys.
But it is wet all the same.
The vegie garden is booming and the cows and sheep are getting fat.
@RawBill1 (8531)
• Gold Coast, Australia
5 Dec 10
I am in the hills too, but the lower areas nearby have turned into lakes. Roads are cut and some houses are probably under water a bit. But that's what happens when you build a city on a flood plain! 
@RawBill1 (8531)
• Gold Coast, Australia
5 Dec 10
I know! Farming and Australian weather can be cruel at times! How is is where you are?
At least my veggie patch here is booming!
@paula27661 (15811)
• Australia
8 Dec 10
I’ve heard about the constant rain over there. My brother in law lives in Wagga Wagga but fortunately him and his family are up high so at this point they are free from floods. I have a brother in law who nearly lost his home and his life during the Black Saturday fires and now the other ones is risking a flood! My, I’ve got to keep an eye on these guys; they are worrying the heck out of me!
I’m sorry you missed out on your archery shoot, I hope they will reschedule when the rain will eventually stop! I can’t recall rain ever ruining my plans aside from having to watch my little one when she was six having to run in the rain at sports carnival on a freezing, windy and wet day, my heart just went out to her...
@RawBill1 (8531)
• Gold Coast, Australia
9 Dec 10
Hi Paula, yes, it was pretty crazy here over the weekend and early this week. The last day or so we have had some sunshine, but there has still been little bits of rain each day. The heavy rains are supposed to return for this weekend and the start of the school holidays next week, but not as heavy this time hopefully. 
We are going to do the shoot in January. I emailed everyone this week and most people said they were too busy to reschedule it before Xmas. I have competed in solid rain before and it is not fun, but you just do it anyway normally. Although the rain last weekend was a bit heavier than I have competed in!
We are going to do the shoot in January. I emailed everyone this week and most people said they were too busy to reschedule it before Xmas. I have competed in solid rain before and it is not fun, but you just do it anyway normally. Although the rain last weekend was a bit heavier than I have competed in! @RawBill1 (8531)
• Gold Coast, Australia
9 Dec 10
Actually, our National and world titles are on in Wagga next April. You should tell them to go and have a look! Or at least to keep an eye out for a whole heap of people flinging pointy things around everywhere!
@Janey1966 (24170)
• Carlisle, England
5 Dec 10
I bet it's not -3 degrees C though!
Actually, it's warmed up a tad. The other night it was -11!
It's a shame about the archery competition though as I know you love it.
Our cold weather is set to continue for at least another week and odds have been slashed drastically for a White Christmas! That doesn't happen very often. I looked at the long-range forecast for the next 3 months or so and it's more of the same but with rain as opposed to snow. Colder than average though but there again, it's usually too mild so I don't know which is worse!
Our cold weather is set to continue for at least another week and odds have been slashed drastically for a White Christmas! That doesn't happen very often. I looked at the long-range forecast for the next 3 months or so and it's more of the same but with rain as opposed to snow. Colder than average though but there again, it's usually too mild so I don't know which is worse!@RawBill1 (8531)
• Gold Coast, Australia
5 Dec 10
No, it's not really cold. Still in the 20's Celsius, even without the sunshine. But it is just colder than normal at this time of year. As soon as Summer officially started last week, the rain came. It IS the wet season, but we normally get dry humid days with afternoon thunder storms as opposed to the consistent rain with cooler temperatures that we are getting now.
A white Christmas will be fun for you! No chance of that here!
@RawBill1 (8531)
• Gold Coast, Australia
6 Dec 10
I have not heard that one. If they are, they must be over the other side of the country as they would be getting too wet here to terrorise everyone! I drove through a locust plague a couple of years ago and it took me hours to wash them all off the front of my car. I had to pull the front bumper bar and radiator grille of the car in order to get them all out!
It was pretty freaky driving through them. It sounded like hail pelting the car! The kids thought it was hilarious! There is a photo below of the front of our car afterwards. 
There are some photos of our flooding here: http://tools.goldcoast.com.au/photo-gallery/photo_gallery_popup_preview.php?category_id=21735&offset=0
It was pretty freaky driving through them. It sounded like hail pelting the car! The kids thought it was hilarious! There is a photo below of the front of our car afterwards.
There are some photos of our flooding here: http://tools.goldcoast.com.au/photo-gallery/photo_gallery_popup_preview.php?category_id=21735&offset=0@Janey1966 (24170)
• Carlisle, England
6 Dec 10
Do you get financial help from the government when you have major floods? In Carlisle we were "lucky" as, if the floods had happened now, there's no way the new flood defences would've been constructed.
Phew!
@zandi458 (28102)
• Malaysia
5 Dec 10
It rains here everyday too. The worse part is it comes in the evening when I set my time for my routine walk with my dogs. But today the weather seems to be fine and I quickly put on my gear and rushed to the sports complex to walk few rounds minus my dogs. They don't allow dogs on the tracks.
When I was in your country, I really never experienced torrential rains and if it rains it was only drizzling which can hardly wet the grounds. Looks like monsoon is coming and we are expecting heavy downpour come Christmas.
I am sorry to hear that your organized games have been spoiled by the rain. Hopefully, the weather improves so you can continue your competitions. I am not really into games so rain or shine I am not worried. A little rain will do justice to our hot weather here.
@RawBill1 (8531)
• Gold Coast, Australia
5 Dec 10
Hi Zandi, when you were here it was the dry, cool season. Now it is more humid, warm and very wet! It is not our usual wet season weather just yet though. It is cooler than normal and more consistent rain. From October onwards we normally get a shower maybe in the morning and then humid hot days before an afternoon storm, but that has not really happened this year yet. Just ongoing rain and cooler temperatures.
@RawBill1 (8531)
• Gold Coast, Australia
6 Dec 10
Wow, a tornado while camping would NOT be good!
You were lucky to get out of there in time.
You were lucky to get out of there in time. 
@Hatley (163772)
• Garden Grove, California
5 Jan 11
hi rawbill I live in soggy Southern California and the'
long torrential rains here have caused so much
damages in the millions of dollars the Governor of our
state has asked the President for federal funds. It rained
for most of last week and the week before flooding
towns and causing extensive mudslides and many homes lost
from that so I can feel for you there. now we have some sunny
weather again and am hoping tomorrow is again sunny and no rain.
last week I was set to go shopping with the others and it
rained,not just rained but like a cloud burst so the trip is scheduled now for tomorrow. so am hoping it will stay sunny and no more rain.
now for tomorrow. so am hoping it will stay sunny and no more rain.@RawBill1 (8531)
• Gold Coast, Australia
13 Jan 11
Hi Hatley, I had no idea about the floods over there in California. I have been away from media since before Christmas until I returned from my trip away on Monday night. It was then that I realised how bad the flooding was here and more areas have been hit with devastating effects over the last few days. These areas are very close to me and places that I know well, but we are safe here. I could drive 0ne hour north and have roads cut by floods and the same distance south to find the same amount of flooding, but we are not that bad here. It was much worse here before Christmas when I started this discussion. Much of Brisbane, which is the capital city of our state and the third largest city in Australia is under water right now.
There are photos here which I find amazing as I know a lot of these areas well. http://www.smh.com.au/photogallery/environment/weather/flood-peaks-in-brisbane/20110113-19oid.html
@Hatley (163772)
• Garden Grove, California
7 Dec 10
hi rawbill is it more l ike summere there now in 'Australia. I am in the U.S and we have had sev eral heavy rains but its been unusually cold for this part of the winter down in the upper thiries and lower forties and that is not usually happenin til January and February.I hace my small space heater on to night and I a m soon off to bed and will turn it up. so w elcome to cold sunny california lol.at least it does not snow here, well at least it never has before. lol.
@RawBill1 (8531)
• Gold Coast, Australia
8 Dec 10
Hi Hatley. It never snows where I am either, in fact it does not snow ever in over 90% of Australia! It has warmed up a bit the last couple of days and the sun has even popped it's head out a bit so far today. (only 10am now)
More rain is predicted through out the coming weeks, but I think we may have seen the heaviest of it for now. The waters have subsided in some of the areas but our river is still flowing fast and strong.
More rain is predicted through out the coming weeks, but I think we may have seen the heaviest of it for now. The waters have subsided in some of the areas but our river is still flowing fast and strong.@RawBill1 (8531)
• Gold Coast, Australia
5 Dec 10
Hi Jen, it is still raining now. My rain water tank is overflowing and the gardens are booming though which is good. Better than no rain, but I saw a couple of cars yesterday that had crashed and heard about another that was washed away as they tried to cross a flooding causeway.
It is not really that cold though. Just cold for summer. My daughter went swimming yesterday at a friends house in their pool in the pouring rain.
It is not really that cold though. Just cold for summer. My daughter went swimming yesterday at a friends house in their pool in the pouring rain. 
@sasalove (1709)
• China
6 Dec 10
It was lucky that I have not been through such weather that holds my schedule. I just remembered one heavy Typhoon last year that we didn’t need to go to office and stuck in our apartment only two days only. It seems that the rain is very heavy in your place this time.
It did not rain for such a long time here, and I see the earth is drought and the plant to thirsty to get the water. The climate seems that they did not go on the right track these years that we don’t have the clear 4 seasons any more. It would be very hot in winter.
@RawBill1 (8531)
• Gold Coast, Australia
6 Dec 10
We have had floods here every year for the last few years. The few years before that were a really bad drought. It does seem that we do not have much of an in between nice perfect climate these days, just one extreme to the other.
But it is normal for it to flood here. Practically the whole city that I live in was built on a flood plain. There are many creeks and rivers that flood the whole plain and throughout the valleys. Luckily I am on a hill, so the water just rushes pat me and down to the river.
