Raining Cats and Dogs

For several days now I’ve been seeing warnings that there was an ‘Episode Mediterranean’ on the way.  To me that sounded like something to do with sun-loungers and a day at the beach but apparently it is some sort of meteorological phenomenon (I had to look that up) involving heavy rain and very serious storms. 

On Tuesday it rained all day.  It was so bad that I didn’t even have to explain to the dogs that nobody was going out for a walk.  Orange sent their usual text message warning that a storm was coming and to unplug the Livebox – seriously, it’s raining and they expect me not to watch tv, work on the computer and make phone calls?

We had been warned to expect 3 months of rain in just 2 days.  In fact, I think we received our quota over a period of just 2 hours.  I was woken at 3am thinking that a helicopter was landing outside.  I have never seen a storm like it – non-stop thunder, constant sheet lightening (think strobe lighting in a 70s disco) and rain lashing down.  I briefly saw the cat waiting to be let in but even in torrential rain, when I opened the door he decided to run off and take his chances! 

This afternoon the rain has finally stopped, and apart from spending most of the day mopping up minor leaks, resetting the clock on the cooker (due to a power cut) (and yes I had finally unplugged the Livebox!), sorting out the fact we now have an ‘infinity’ pool, constantly drying wet dogs (and the cat, when he finally turned up) everything is getting back to normal.  But apparently we got off lightly as there were also mini-tornadoes – trees and walls have fallen, roads are closed, rivers have flooded and many people have had to be evacuated from their properties. 

I do feel extremely sorry (and ridiculously responsible) for some clients of mine who had flown over for a 2 day viewing trip.  We had spent Monday visiting properties and I had left Tuesday free for them to drive around the region, visit the beaches and admire our wonderful scenery. This is the sunniest region in France with over 300 days of sunshine here and it hardly ever rains – honestly!