Big Storm....new Solution ??

Tuesday 2nd October

Ricardo phoned late afternoon, saying a big storm was approaching and he must come straight away to drill holes, rather than wait until tomorrow. He arrived with Tommy about half an hour later with a huge drill (50mm) ready to drill holes through next door to the ruin, rather than front of house. I said this wasn’t a good idea, in view of the problems we’d had with Ruin man and his wife. He said he could not drill holes at front because it was too thick and his drill was not long enough.

Against my better judgement, I let him drill 2 holes in the wall overlooking the roof of the ruin……as a temporary measure for the oncoming storm, with tubes jutting out over the roof.. He suggested I paint them white to avert attention from neighbours …..

Had a long chat with J later in evening, and she was NOT best pleased with solution, and we had a long “debate” about the “solution”. Returning from the locutorio about 11.30. I got caught in the start of the storm and got drenched. The rain continued to get heavier and heavier, the road soon became a torrent (see bottom picture), and the patio drain quickly flooded, (even though 6 of the 9 drainage holes were blocked with corks) and the house flooded, despite 100’s of litres held back on the roof terrace. The water on the terrace stretched back to the 2 new drain holes on the roof, but only a little trickled out.

Unfortunately, I did not have another two corks to block 2 the remaining 3 holes to fully test the theory……ie holding 1000 litres on the roof allowing the patio drain to cope….. Instead, I spent a couple of hours mopping up in the house, but gave up at about 3 am and went to bed.