We've had so much rain since March that it has turned parts of our yard into a swamp. Areas are even wetter than this & have standing puddles that look like mini lakes. While the heavy rains are occurring, a flood of water also runs through the back yard. That has actually been washing our ground away!!! Flash flooding?

Yesterday, we had a 5 or 6 hour break in a several hour, heavy, overnight rain (Sunday into Monday)that had produced 4 inches in the rain gauge. After that break Monday( with everything still dark & gloomy and just in the 50's), it started to pour once again in the afternoon. That rain continued for the next 24 straight hours. Late this afternoon, we were blessed with a one hour break in the rain. The local evening news declared that the storms were over for now. Just as soon as the local weatherman finished saying that, tornado warnings went out for the counties both north and west of us. The news was still on the air. Knock on wood, those isolated tornados fortunately never reached us. However, the rain did. It poured once again for a couple more hours.

If this continues, we may not have a backyard left. We've lived here for a really long time (including during the great Midwest flooding of '93) and have never had any major problems before. This year is different... Last night, we also lost one of our backyard crab apple trees to the strong winds.