Getting the bash from Mother Nature, again

 A week ago we had a pretty big storm here in Christchurch. Thirty six hours of rain and gale force winds quickly became known as a "one in 50 year event", and that was later upgraded to a "one in 100 year event". It was a rather eventful couple of days in the city, as rivers burst their banks and streets were engulfed in flash flooding. (Above is a small creek which burst its banks)

 All was ok at my house luckily. We had a sodden back yard, since drainage seems to be an issue after the earthquakes (my theory is that liquefaction blocked all the tiny cracks and channels that rainwater used to use to drain away), but the house and garage were safe and dry. Not so for many whose homes were close to rivers and creeks, or were just in low lying areas.

(Above is the aptly, ironically named River Road. The actual river is to the left of the trees.)

 I went for a walk in the afternoon when the rain finally cleared. I'd been lucky and stayed at home that day... I'm glad I didn't have to try and drive through this!

Debris was everywhere, leaves and branches and fallen trees. On my way home I picked up this bundle of chestnut branches that had been knocked to the ground. They make a nice decoration, but are also a reminder of yet another extreme weather event. It seems to me that these once rare, "one in 100 year" type events are getting more frequent - whether it's earthquakes, rain storms or snow storms, we seem to get something every year now! Hopefully that's it for this year and the rest of it is mild and tame... but with an ex tropical cyclone possibly going to hit this weekend, I somehow doubt that will be the case. Time to buy a new umbrella!