Friday, February 04, 2011

There's a river outside my house

Torrential rain hit Melbourne today, causing flash floods in many parts of the city and in various suburbs. We weren't spared from the downpour - as you can see from the pictures below.

The street outside my place turned into a river, and our basement carpark got flooded in minutes. I went to my car just in time - the water was already lapping at the driver's door - and drove it to the exit, where The Boy and a few other dudes were trying to yank the automatic sliding gate open so we could drive out. The water had killed the gate's electrics but luckily we found the key that unlocks the gate's motor, which helped a little but in the end the guys had to practically rip the gate off its hinges and raise it above their heads so that we could get out. Only four cars and a couple of motorbikes escaped - the rest are currently under water :(

Melbourne flash floods February 2011 Glen Iris
A waterfall cascading down the stairs to the basement

The street outside our place

Everyone came out to watch

This used to be a sidewalk

The fast-flowing flood waters
Our bicycles are still down in the basement - I hope they are okay and that everyone else's stuff is okay too. Also hope that we didn't stuff up the gate too much.

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