Although we’ve had torrential rain here all of today, it hasn’t been as bad as further south – Minehead for example has had terrible floods, and further inland from there too. The Meteorological Office has issued an amber warning:
There is an increased likelihood of bad weather affecting you, which could potentially disrupt your plans and possibly cause travel delays, road and rail closures, interruption to power and the potential risk to life and property. Amber means you need to be prepared to change your plans and protect you, your family and community from the impacts of the severe weather based on the forecast from the Met Office.
I think fortunately for us, we’re on the edge of this, but gosh, it has absolutely heaved it down. Whenever it rains really heavily, a line from an old song runs through my mind, a favourite of my mum’s, “The day that the rains came down, love was born all around…” – every time it rains I hear it in my head. I looked it up, not knowing who wrote it or who originally sang it. It was someone I’d never heard of, Jane Morgan. Actually I do know someone of that name, but a very different person, now an eminent professor at Cambridge University. Jane Morgan the American singer made it famous, but it was composed and written by Gilbert Bécaud and Pierre Delanoë, originally in French “Le jour où la pluie viendra”, and released in 1957.
I was more surprised to find that in fact, what my mum sang, and the first lines I’ve sung ever since, are wrong!! The first lines are actually “The day that the rains came down Mother Earth smiled again”! There is a verse later on,
The day that the rains came downBuds were born, love was bornAs the young buds will growSo our young love will growLove, sweet love.
– which is not the same at all! Oh well, I prefer mum’s lines!
It’s coincidental that I am re-reading for the nth time ‘Dead Level’ by Damien Boyd, the fifth in his excellent Nick Dixon series. It is set just before Christmas 2013 when the catastrophic and dreadful flooding of the Somerset Levels occurred. Communities were cut off, homes, businesses, and vast areas of agricultural land were underwater. It was a terrible time. Damien imagines what the police would do, if a crime scene they were investigating was flooded and was several feet under filthy water!
In the early hours of Christmas Eve, the wife of parliamentary candidate Tom Perry is brutally murdered in an apparent burglary gone wrong. With the by-election campaign about to start in earnest, and the festive season in full swing, torrential rain brings with it flood warnings on the Somerset Levels. Suspended on full pay and transferred to the cold case unit, Detective Inspector Nick Dixon is languishing on the sidelines as the investigation into Elizabeth Perry’s murder unravels and the floodwaters rise.
As I mentioned, I’ve read this before, but what struck me this time, was how vividly and in dreadful detail Damien describes the effects of a flood, the heartbreak, the mess, the financial implications, the difficulty of living an ordinary life even if your house or business isn’t feet deep in filthy water, the utter misery of it all.
If you haven’t read this book, if you haven’t heard of the Somerset floods a decade ago, then you will find it not only gripping but fascinating too!
Record rainfalls were recorded in Somerset between November 2013 and March 2014 which caused
extensive flooding across Somerset and particularly on the SLM. It was widely reported in national
media that communities were severely impacted by the unprecedented depths and duration of the
flooding. The community of Muchelney was cut-off by the flood waters for over two months and the
communities of Burrowbridge, Mooorland, Thorney and North Curry were severely impacted by the
flooding. In total 165 properties were internally flooded and approximately 50% of businesses across
Somerset were either directly or indirectly impacted by the flooding .
The social and economic impact of the flooding was considerable and continues to be felt.
Lois Elsden 
Well, I spoke too soon! We’ve now got the torrential rain.
Isabel
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OH dear!!! I hope it doesn’t last too long!
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