Saturday, September 18, 2004

Ivan The Terrible

Yikes!  I woke up to a knock on my door this morning.  My friend and next-door-neighbor, Roger, was standing there.  He said, "Hurry up!  We are being flooded out!  Go get your camera!"  I threw on some clothes and shoes and took a walk with him.  I didn't have a camera, so I bought a disposable one at a local drugstore.  What I saw made me quite sad.  All the roads going into my town are closed today.  The local river is riding high and flooding into some local businesses and into some houses.  I had no idea that this was going to happen.  I am high enough on a hill to be safe, but I do feel a little trapped knowing that if something happened, say an emergency or something of that nature, I could not get out.  Chelsea is also at a friend's house and can't get home for some time.  Who knows how long.  We have had hard rain from the remnants of Ivan for about a day now, but that rain on its own could not have caused the flooding.  We must have gotten alot of down-river water from other areas that were hard hit.  People are outside just staring at all the water.  Strange.  The last time I saw any flooding was in 1972 during Hurricane Agnes in Virginia.  People are driving their cars up to my block to higher ground right now.  Hmm...  Anyone have wood for an ark?  And the landlord has not fixed the hole in my ceiling!
drip.....drip.....drip.....drip.....drip.....CRASH.....drip.....drip
Chinese water torture with a bit of plaster falling intermittently.  I can't give you pictures of the flooding yet as everyone in the town is developing their pictures and the one-hour developing is not an option.  Also, the only drugstore that develops here has a parking lot that may flood over.  I hope I can get the pictures in today.  If not, it may take a day or two.  It was sad going to the local park and seeing the ducks displaced out of the water and in mud.  We have a beautiful local park that will have terrible erosion now.  It is a place that I usually go to feed fish and ducks.  The ducks didn't know where to go this morning.  We also have a college football game going on this weekend as I live next to a college town (Go Penn State!) and they closed the main road into the campus and diverted the traffic.  It will be an interesting weekend.  They say most deaths from hurricanes come from people driving onto flooded roads.  Please, nobody do this!  Well, I am off here to go see if I can go get those pictures.  Wish me luck! 

 

7 comments:

  1. Flooding is pretty awful - like you we are up high so don't get it.........
    Look forward to the photos though.

    http://journals.aol.co.uk/sdrogerson/SpecimenDays

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  2. Boy, it sounds as if things are really bad there.  Raining here quite hard but nothing like that, luckily we have never had flooding here *touches wood*. I hope things improve quickly. You must post piccies when you get them.  (((((((((((((((((hugs))))))))))))))))))))dear friend xxxx

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  3. I've been thru 2 major floods and they were nightmares. The first flood we had 6 ft of water in our house and the second we had 4 ft of water...the damage it causes it horrible...and the clean up!

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  4. Floods are awful, they cause so much damage. I hope everybody stays safe :)......Jules xxx
    http://journals.aol.co.uk/jules19642001/Itsmylife/

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  5. A couple months ago my town flooded when the Des Plains river overflowed.  It's not fun and it is a real mess to clean up.
    Jennifer
    http://journals.aol.com/jenniferp9/public

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  6. I am sorry that this is happening to your town.  Please keep safe.

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  7. In 1997 the most devastating flood this area has ever experienced hit a neighboring town to the north when the complacent Red River of the North, fled its banks and consumed the river towns of Grand Forks and East Grand Forks. The downtown area of Grand Forks caught fire, no water pressure, no fire trucks, the area burnt to the ground amidst all that water. Be safe me friend. Count your blessings. The unquenchable human spirit will rise again. Prayers and good vibes to you and yours.

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