Dealing with floods

It has been RAINING here. Hard. The gutters overflowed yesterday, sending water cascading into the sun room. Urgent action had to be taken so I ended up a ladder in the pelting rain, clearing the gutter. However before I could get there, my daughter noticed that the drains were not being able to cope with the water. This was strange as I recently had the drains cleaned. I may have done but Northumberland County Council Highways Department has not. Their drains backed up, water flowed down  the North Bank and into our gate. The hardstanding where we park the cars became a lake. And the water was inching ever closer to the front door.
We built a levee outside the gates and managed to divert the water away. It flowed further down the bank and became someone else's problem.
We now have gullies where pathways used to be and silt blocking up the drive. The road on the North Bank is crumbling even more.
 On the plus side, the gutter on the sun room is clean and the water didn't reach the new carpet (much).
However, as the Highways Agency swears its drains are unblocked (they are covered in silt and mud), I can see that this is going to keep recurring. We are in the process of getting new granite curb sets (a permanent levee) as then  the water will not be able to flow into our property.
More heavy rain is forecast for today.
The ducklings were singularly unperturbed by the rain. The dogs and cats decided indoors was by far the best place to be.