One of the problems is in areas hit by floods, is that electricity supplies
are down in many places. Also no drinking water supplies or sewerage - all
flooded out. This can affect properties which haven't flooded as well as the
flooded ones.

Many yips of chastisement. I am so sorry Matthew. When disasters like
this happen, & you loose your electric supply, & find yourself
sheeting down,. rescuing the cats that were actually out there in it &
you loose sight of those who are desperately waiting for news. Very
wrong of us & I apologise..
I can @ least appreciate what it must have been like for you all when
you were trying desperately to get through Katrina. It takes all of
your efforts, time & concentration too....
Even though you are warned about possible flood warnings, & you try to
prepare for them, nothing can possibly prepare you for the reality of
a situation, until you are caught up in it.

Initially, I thought the cats would be fine outside in the runs, &
sheds/ housing, because all of them are raised over 4' off the
floor..but once the stream of water started pouring through the back
garden down the hill, it became a major torrent & it was very clear
that it was possible that the housing might become unstable, or even
collapse under the strain of the water. ( once we saw the filed cat
litters floating out of the garden), it became a race against time to
get them indoors out of harms way, upstairs in case it came into the
house as well!!

The cats seemed to know that it was a race against time, & were very
good about being handed from person, to person in a line, until we got
them all in the house, & got the sand bags back up against the doors
to try & stem the flow of water..

Today, there is still a flood running through the garden, but no where
near as bad as last night. Having said that, we have another severe
weather warning tonight. We have the fire service pumping water in the
places that are still underwater,, however, there is only so much that
they can pump away before it simply overflows again & comers back down
the hill.
All of our cats seem to understand that we can't allow them back out
there yet. I remain optimistic that we have seen the worst of it
though. Nonetheless, I have no intention of letting my guard down just
yet... Speaking of which, it is time that I rounded up the kids & got
them all to safety too.
I promise to keep you abreast of our situation as & when I can.

Boy, we could use some feliway in the house tonight.!! The boys, (Tazy
& Biffy), are not that fond of each other, & sing to us when they see
one another....I could think of better pastimes for them, such as head
butts & leg weaving. far more peaceful, Lol :o)

Sheelagh  >"o"<

Thanks for the good wishes.  The state can really use lots of rain.
The temp is in the high 90s.  We had thunder and lightning but no rain
where I live.  My son said they had some rain -- they life northeast of
here.  I had a short visit from my second great
grandson (20 mo old)   I had almost forgotten how busy those tots can be.
TuTu stayed out of reach.   MLB