Local Flooding May Occur – 9/29

I don’t have a Smart Phone but I do have a phone with a Emergency Alert feature.  Said phone woke me up on 9/29 with a Flash Flood warning.  It was monsooning outside so the warning was definetely spot on. 

Drainage Ditch in the Backyard

The drainage ditch along one side of my yard overflowed about an hour after the phone warning.

Drainage Ditch a Few Minutes Later

The water continued to quickly rise and started spreeding over the rear of the backyard.

The Ditch Overfloweth

Within an hour of the 1st warning there was water 4 inches deep flowing over the rear 1/3 of the yard. 

My Fire Ring Near the Woods

I don’t think I’ll be having a quiet little fire this evening.  The entire ring was totally submerged by noon.

Looking Towards the Neighbor’s Yard

The yard next door & upstream of me had significantly more water flowing over their property.

The Neighbor’s Yard

There is about 8 inches of water flowing over the back right corner of my yard at this point.  About a third of the neighbor’s yard is under water.

Near Peak Flooding

The flooding got deep enough for me to kayak in it except the current was faster than I wanted to tackle. 

Fenceline Waterfall

The neighbor’s had to move their goats from the goatpen to the fenced area right behind their house.  There’s 14-16 inches of water at this point.

View from the Road of the Flooded Neighbor’s Yard

This is the most flooding I’ve had in the 23 years I’ve lived here.  There wasn’t any damage worth mentioning from all this water and I just had very very soggy ground by mid afternoon.  But it was a reminder that flash floods aren’t wimps.

Camper Van Basics

I’ve been reviewing my Camper Van posts and realized I’d omitted any mention of the panorama mirrors or the vent visors I’d installed.  These were the first 3 things I added to the van.

Stock OEM Rear View Mirror

This is what the driver sees with the stock OEM Rear View Mirror.  The mirror doesn’t quite show the entire rear windows top to bottom plus a little bit of the rear side window.  The blind spots are large with this mirror.

Aftermarket Panorama Mirror

I bought this mirror from the local auto parts store.  It fully displays the entire area of both rear windows and the side windows right up to the driver’s and passenger’s seat headrests.  This is a grand view of the traffic all around the van.  The van still has blind spots but they’re very modest.

Driver’s Side Insert Panorama Mirror

I also got small insert panorama mirrors for both of the OEM side mirrors.  The driver’s side mirror clearly shows the parking space lines for back in parking spots.  It also almost eliminates the vehicle blind spot on the driver’s side. 

Passenger Side Insert Panorama Mirror

The passenger side mirror clearly shows any vehicle in the lane to the right of the van.  It also shows parking space lines on that side of the van.  Thank you Lewis for telling me about these little stick on mirrors.

Vent Visor

The Chevy Blazer I used to own came with vent visors installed.  I fell in love with them.  They let you drive down the road in the rain with the windows open about 2 inches without having any rain come in the windows.  They also help with defogging the windshield on those days when the window is fogging up even with the defroster going full blast.  I installed them on my GMC Canyon pickup and I’ve installed them on the van.  I prefer the style that goes into the window track. 

Two Function LED Flashlight

This light has a nice magnet on the back.  It can be used as a single beam LED flashlight or as an area LED light.  I’ve got 2 of them on the van’s cargo area ceiling.  They’re great for lighting the van’s interior after dark.