Floods

The weather's been bad all week, but the worst (and most exciting) day was Thursday, when the river rose by at least 10 feet in the night, and broke its banks in places.
When I went out with Islay, I stopped on the bridge to look. Nearest to me, the canoe landing stage was completely under water, and the water had covered part of the path as well.
In the distance, there is usually a field that the river does a little detour around. Not that day - it went straight on through, and there was a little island where the field usually is. A little island with a flock of sheep on it. There was already one fire engine there when I was watching, and others turned up later - you could hear the sirens all through Hay. There may even have been helicopters involved - there were certainly a lot of them around along the river valley. At any rate, the sheep were saved.
The fire engines had also been pumping water out around the low lying areas of town.
I took Islay up the Wyecliff, where there's a good view of the Warren. The beach there, and the weir, had completely disappeared, and the water was up over the path in places. I should think the people who live in the house opposite the Warren were a bit worried as well. Last year, new flood defences were put in - this being a huge wall of boulders to keep the bank in place. The water was lapping right up to the top of it, and round the landward side of the house, the drive was covered by a small pond that Islay decided she didn't want to wade through. Large areas of the field were puddle, as well - not from the river this time, but from the stream cum drainage ditch that normally forms a little waterfall when it reaches the Wye, and now met it at the same level and was backing up.
The water has gone down a bit now, but it's still high - and it's still raining.