Brrrrr and humphh!

The rain caused the rivers and streams around Knowlton to reach record high levels as the rain, often heavy at times, continued into the long weekend. The Cold Brook was high on her banks flooding low yards and burying trees and trails with rushing streams.

It's starting to feel like we're living on the West Coast with the constant cloudy wet weather. The long weekend is usually a time for the official gardening season to begin but it looks more like it will be the Sump Pump festival as the waters of rivers burst banks and cause flooding.

After 10 days straight of rain in Knowlton the Coldbrook was at extremely high levels and was roaring over the Mill Pond Dam at a furious rate providing quite a spectacle. Over 45 mm of rain fell last Thursday alone and it is turning out to be one of the wettest months of May on record. While homes in the Lac Brome area saw some flooding and waterlogged lawns it was nothing like they had down the road in Cowansville and Bromont where homes were severly flooded and many families had to be evacuated.

Weekend events like the Chocolate Festival and the Antique Show at the Knowlton Academy will likely see fewer visitors as people decided to stay home during these cold days, as temperatures have been consistantly below normal this month. The usually busy streets in Knowlton were quiet as tourists huddled under umbrellas and shuffled about rather glumly.

Downtown Knowlton was unusually quiet this weekend with the most noise coming from the Mill Pond Dam and the rushing waters tumbling down the rocky riverbeds. Some trees were knocked over as the roots became unstable with the high rushing waters. The golf courses were flooded and only the bravest, or craziest, of duffers could be seen out hitting a few balls under the pounding rain. While there was some hours without rain it is still cold and wet enough to make everyone here in the Eastern Townships feel a bit blue.

There were some residents who did not seem to mind the sloppy cold conditions and that was the local duck population! Ducks were seen playing in huge puddles on the fields that are usually dry and dusty so not everyones feathers were ruffled the wrong way.

Hopefully by next week things will warm up and dry out so we can get into the gardens and get to work on preparing for summer!