Narrawilly Farm is flooded for the second time in 2020.
Back in February, heavy rains extinguished bushfires across the South Coast and flooded the home farm. (You can read about the farm's first flood here.)
Now, in late July, heavy rains are back, submerging the northern flatlands yet again. Five months and twenty-something days have passed since the first flood of February. Clearly, 2020 is not done with us yet.
Image 1: Flood water returns to the northern flatlands.
The Bureau of Meteorology website records a fair bit of rain falling on Ulladulla (our nearest official weather station) since the weekend.
Image 2: Croobyar Creek in flood
It's days like these -- when the rain comes at you sideways and the wind is a heavy weight boxer -- that we say an extra special thank you to our teams at Narrawilly and Croobyar -- Andrew, Jodie, Hamish, Mal, David, Brad -- and our brilliant veterinarian -- also named Andrew -- for all their efforts to keep our animals safe, healthy, fed and nurtured.
Update #1 (28 July 2020): Our farm rain gauge has measured nearly 400mm of rain since Sunday morning. A comparison, from the Bureau's website, of rainfall in July 2019 and July 2020 shows just how much can change in a year (… and there are still a handful of days to go before August arrives).
Soft rains continue to fall across the farm on Tuesday, 28 July. Mud fills the laneways. The northern paddocks resemble a lake. And grey clouds linger like relatives oblivious to an overstayed welcome.
Image 3: Rising waters flood the paddocks adjacent to Croobyar Creek, but the hay is (mostly) dry in the old shed.
Image 4: Mud in the laneways and flood water in the northern paddocks.
Fallen trees and broken branches will eventually be logged for firewood. Once dried, they will warm Narrawilly's grand, old farmhouse as winter fades into spring.
Image 5: The kind of fire we prefer
