It is surprising given you are on a ridge but it speaks to the severity of the storm. Hopefully a once in a lifetime storm but good to plan for any further storms. Stay warm and hopefully dry.

Glad things have eased up for you

Throughout my life, I have always found it amazing how "stuff" accumulates.

It didn't seem *that* wild here, but rain came in through all the usual places - usually it doesn't come in all of them. And Diss, where two grandsons are at school, was pretty well cut off by the time their parents picked up the email saying that the bus couldn't get through. They did, in Al's pickup, but it was a hairy journey.

The river has burst its banks, but that's what the flood plain is for. Just hope the wind doesn't get up again.

Z: I thought flood plains were simply set aside land for building houses.

Have you considered a lip on the outside of the garage door to deflect any water running down it outwards and into the drainage?

Ian - While it was happening, I was thinking of fixing a piece of butyl rubber (leftover pond liner from 25 years ago!) between the lower slats of the electric door, and weighing it down at the bottom. But, I'm not sure that it would have worked in the high winds and torrential rain. I can't think of another way of doing it, and certainly no neat way of doing it permanently. If Mr BW's sealing of the sides of the rubber buffer already installed doesn't work, the next stage is probably to dig a channel an inch wide into the 6" of concrete that skopes down into the drainage channel. It's not easy, and only a freak weather event will prove it either way. But thanks for the thought!

The cellar in our old house has a gulley around the walls. Perhaps a shallow channel on the inside of the door running to a drain might work, even if it would be slightly unsightly

Meant to msg you over that weekend. I knew that you would cope with anything Babet threw at you.