Rain, Rain, Go to Spain Word on the Week 21st October 2023.
Rain, Rain, go to Spain and never come back again! This, or something like it, was an unexpressed wish of many as they splashed through storm Babet yesterday. There is something of a random nature about where these Atlantic storms will make landfall – for this one it was the South Coast of Ireland and mainly the town of Midleton.
Babet has been likened to a slow moving train of rain to hit Ireland. The results were disastrous. Flood barriers, where they exist, have proved inadequate and occasionally do more harm than good! Good drainage is hard to maintain at this time of year with fallen leaves blocking outlets.
Met Éireann’s three colour system yellow, orange or red seems to have been lifted from the child’s game where those searching for the hidden one were prompted by the leader shouting out the colour appropriate to how near they were to the hiding place!
Red was always the closest as with Met Éireann where it spells danger. A national flood warning service is being developed. This will forecast the amount of rain falling in under an hour illustrating the severity of the downpour.
The monitoring of high water levels in river systems and the analysis of weather data since 1991 shows a need to adjust the base figures to allow for stronger winds and higher temperatures. The state has produced its latest advice “Be Winter Ready”. Let’s hope they take to heart their own advice!
On the home front, with the land already saturated, we had to cope with surface water flowing from the fields into the farm yard. One place the waters meet is the hen-run where the inflow is faster than the outlet! The rising waters reached the henhouse and I am glad to report there were no losses!
The good news is we will not have a global flood! God’s covenant with Noah makes it plain there will be no repeat. The rainbow in the sky marks the fulfilment of the promise. The promise is to all living creatures including those who commandeered the rainbow for their flag! (Genesis 9 verses 8 to 17). The Apostle Luke speaks of the end times in Luke 17 verses 26 to 30)
As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Jesus also said,Likewise, as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed. Jesus offers grace for this type of rain!