Even the red umbrella couldn't help with these rains
Those of you who live in relative proximity to Ireland may have heard that we had flooding here yesterday, especially in Dublin. Serious flooding. Real, no messing, don't travel if you don't have to, cars abandoned, scary flooding. When Younger Daughter left the house to go to Trinity yesterday morning, it was all set to be a rainy day. She left prepared for said rainy day. But later in the afternoon I heard that the trains were suspended past Dun Laoghaire, some 3 to 4 miles between us and the city centre, so I texted her and told her. Suspension of services like these aren't that infrequent and are usually fixed fairly soon, so she decided to stay in town, have dinner, and wait for the promised end of the rain. And sure enough, by the time she'd finished dinner the Irish Rail website was saying the trains were running again, with some delays, and she got on a train with rejoicing. (Though drenched, as the rain hadn't even slowed at all.) But then the train stopped after just two stations and there was an inaudible announcement, so I checked the website again, couldn't see what was wrong, and saw the train before hers had made it all the way to our station. They started again, three more stations and they stopped, telling everyone there was something like 3 feet of water on the line ahead so no point waiting. When she phoned me to tell me this, she was shaking with cold, so badly I could hear her teeth chattering.
I tried ringing a couple of taxi companies, to see if anyone could get a taxi there, but was told there wasn't a hope, because of bad flooding just near the station where she was stranded. No trains, no taxis, presumably no buses, so I got into my car. My plan was to see if I could find a taxi at a rank nearby, park and get the taxi to go as close to Booterstown as possible, which I communicated with Y.D. as I set off. I knew some likely trouble spots on the roads from previous floodings, but was stunned at how bad it was even around home, with sand bags at the bottom of a road right in the main part of Dalkey, torrential rain still pouring down and half of the roads badly flooded. No taxis, of course, so I told Y.D. to start walking along the main road and I'd drive towards her and if she saw a bus to hop on it and I'd meet her wherever. A few roads I hadn't expected to be bad were closed, but I got through okay until I was nearly in Blackrock, where there was a shopping centre where whichever one of us got there first could wait safely. And then just a bit farther and I saw the road was completely impassible, and hadn't been closed off yet, and Y.D. was the other side of this massive flooded area. The woman in the car stopped in front of me came over and said there seemed to be nothing to do but drive over the road divider to turn around, unless they could clear the road behind us, but then she didn't seem able to get up on the divider, with a few tries. At which point a construction worker came walking towards us, talked to her and came over to me, and said "You're not getting through THAT", which I well knew. I asked about the woman in the car in front of me and he said "She's afraid of the car being mumble mumble" and walked off into the night.
Eventually she got over and turned around and I rammed my car at the divider with more desperation than wisdom, perhaps, but got over it. I pulled in as soon as I could, around the corner from the flooded area, and phoned Y.D. again. She'd walked to that part, saw it was totally flooded and then gasped in horror as someone walked into it and went up to their waist in water. I was saying "DO NOT GO IN THAT WATER", and told her where I was and to cut down to Blackrock village if the road was safer there, and she agreed and then her phone cut off. I went in - through ankle deep water - to the house whose driveway I was blocking to ask if I could leave the car there while I tried to meet her. They were lovely, lovely people (and had a lovely dog, too!), and asked where I was trying to go - the husband had just got back from Dalkey, picking up one of his kids, and said it was "completely mental" out there. Which was an odd coincidence, though I agreed with him about how bad Dalkey was. A slip road was also impassible, but finally Y.D. and I managed to meet on a back road from Blackrock. Much to both our relief. At that point, it mattered less that the car started and we drove home, as we could have left her bag in the car and walked, if we'd had to. But barring one road closure that forced an interesting detour through parts sort of unknown, and another hasty re-routing because of an obviously bad road, we got home with much less bother than the trip out had been, and it was only drizzling by the time we got here.
Once Y.D. was warm and dry and had stopped shivering, I was feeling a combination of traumatized and SUPER-MOM TO THE RESCUE last night. I've driven through Tucson during a monsoon flood - the kind that carry cars away on a regular basis - and that wasn't half as terrifying as last night's drive. But this morning I woke to hear that a young garda had died while trying to direct traffic safely in Wicklow, and later heard that a woman had been found drowned in a basement in Dublin. Which put everything into sad perspective.
I tried ringing a couple of taxi companies, to see if anyone could get a taxi there, but was told there wasn't a hope, because of bad flooding just near the station where she was stranded. No trains, no taxis, presumably no buses, so I got into my car. My plan was to see if I could find a taxi at a rank nearby, park and get the taxi to go as close to Booterstown as possible, which I communicated with Y.D. as I set off. I knew some likely trouble spots on the roads from previous floodings, but was stunned at how bad it was even around home, with sand bags at the bottom of a road right in the main part of Dalkey, torrential rain still pouring down and half of the roads badly flooded. No taxis, of course, so I told Y.D. to start walking along the main road and I'd drive towards her and if she saw a bus to hop on it and I'd meet her wherever. A few roads I hadn't expected to be bad were closed, but I got through okay until I was nearly in Blackrock, where there was a shopping centre where whichever one of us got there first could wait safely. And then just a bit farther and I saw the road was completely impassible, and hadn't been closed off yet, and Y.D. was the other side of this massive flooded area. The woman in the car stopped in front of me came over and said there seemed to be nothing to do but drive over the road divider to turn around, unless they could clear the road behind us, but then she didn't seem able to get up on the divider, with a few tries. At which point a construction worker came walking towards us, talked to her and came over to me, and said "You're not getting through THAT", which I well knew. I asked about the woman in the car in front of me and he said "She's afraid of the car being mumble mumble" and walked off into the night.
Eventually she got over and turned around and I rammed my car at the divider with more desperation than wisdom, perhaps, but got over it. I pulled in as soon as I could, around the corner from the flooded area, and phoned Y.D. again. She'd walked to that part, saw it was totally flooded and then gasped in horror as someone walked into it and went up to their waist in water. I was saying "DO NOT GO IN THAT WATER", and told her where I was and to cut down to Blackrock village if the road was safer there, and she agreed and then her phone cut off. I went in - through ankle deep water - to the house whose driveway I was blocking to ask if I could leave the car there while I tried to meet her. They were lovely, lovely people (and had a lovely dog, too!), and asked where I was trying to go - the husband had just got back from Dalkey, picking up one of his kids, and said it was "completely mental" out there. Which was an odd coincidence, though I agreed with him about how bad Dalkey was. A slip road was also impassible, but finally Y.D. and I managed to meet on a back road from Blackrock. Much to both our relief. At that point, it mattered less that the car started and we drove home, as we could have left her bag in the car and walked, if we'd had to. But barring one road closure that forced an interesting detour through parts sort of unknown, and another hasty re-routing because of an obviously bad road, we got home with much less bother than the trip out had been, and it was only drizzling by the time we got here.
Once Y.D. was warm and dry and had stopped shivering, I was feeling a combination of traumatized and SUPER-MOM TO THE RESCUE last night. I've driven through Tucson during a monsoon flood - the kind that carry cars away on a regular basis - and that wasn't half as terrifying as last night's drive. But this morning I woke to hear that a young garda had died while trying to direct traffic safely in Wicklow, and later heard that a woman had been found drowned in a basement in Dublin. Which put everything into sad perspective.