94 replies to this topic

[Sci-Fi Girl]

Aaaahhh, I want to send all this rain to Texas where they actually need it!!!!!!  The river towns are evacuated again, all recovery work has stopped.  Roads are flooded, schools are closing early (the ones that are even open).  The water tables are so saturated and the streams so high, that there is no where for all this water to go!  Roads are closing all over the place, water is even gushing upwards out of the storm drains!  And I've got a leaky roof, and water coming into three separate rooms!  

Irene, meet Lee.

SFG

[Sci-Fi Girl]

The kids around here had one crazy first day of school!  

My post earlier about the reverse storm drains was just the beginning, things rapidly got worse from there.  My town was relatively unscathed last time when the river flooded, but this time a tributary creek backed up.  There is just no where for all this water to go.  All roads going in and out of my town were flooded, plus main st, etc..  Also my street in either direction.  No-one can get in or out of town, for anything.  It's all closed.  They even had to move the base of operations where all the emergency agencies were based.

But the kicker is, today was the first day of school!  Some say they should have waited to start, there were even still flood victims sheltering in the school!  But school started anyway.  When the flooding started, they announced they would dismiss one hour early, IF the roads  were safe.  Yeah.  By the time that early dismissal came around, no-one was getting ANYWHERE on those roads, certainly not busses.  And so, they rounded up dinner and beds for all the students, in their schools, on the first day.  I feel especially bad for the kindergardeners, their first day of school ever and they get stuck there!  

Some start to the school year!  

The local college had to find a way to house their commuter students overnight, plus all the preschoolers from the college day-care center!


And one guy, who has been taking mountains of donations and distributing them to lots of people in need (and practically just started his OWN animal shelter and food pantry), spent all day with people helping him sandbag to save HIS own shop!  *faints*

SFG

[JadziaDax]

We've had a ton of flooding as well.

We got a rare email at work saying to check road closures before leaving because of flooding.

For me: one of the major roads that goes into my city flooded on one side. The city just north of me has flooding bad enough to float cars. Accidents galore because no one around here seems to know how to drive in the rain (or snow....or wind...but uh...not the point). It's also knocked out power to some 10k people (I know my internet went down last night because of it).

These Lee remnants are kicking our ass more than Irene did. That's kinda sad.

Edited by JadziaDax, 08 September 2011 - 12:37 AM.

[Sci-Fi Girl]

Note, the following several posts were mostly written before the second flooding from Lee.  These are all about how bad the damage was from Irene, and the recovery efforts over the following week.  Recovery is ongoing, and it will be a very long road.  I don't know a lot about what the second flooding has done outside my own village, but I know it has made many roads unsafe.  A few days ago some parts of binghamton were still underwater.

----------

Part 1 of 4:

michael elizabeth, on 01 September 2011 - 10:04 AM, said:

Wow!  I had no idea the damage was this severe.

Thank you for keeping us informed, SFG.

Yeah, it's pretty bad.  The first handful of links I gave in post #66 have some pretty vivid info, and they are getting updated regularly on the recovery efforts.  Many rural and poor areas have been affected, but there has been an outpouring of support, volunteers, and donations.  Most of it is local, communities coming together to help each other out and rebuild.

Many businesses have been giving support too, whether it is time, resources, or facilities.  But a few companies are taking advantage of the situation instead, and gouging prices in order to make an extra profit from victims and helpers alike.     

For the latest news:
http://www.watershedpost.com
http://www.watershed...hurricane-irene



Here are some vivid pictures of the flooding.  Scroll down to see a floating school-bus, and a house slammed into a bridge.  
http://www.watershed...am-irene-update
(some pics aren't showing up there right now, here they are instead:)

http://abclocal.go.c...8331608&photo=1
http://abclocal.go.c...8331608&photo=2

 Irene-Windham bus.jpg   58.48K   3 downloads

 irene windham-house bridge.jpg   64.86K   3 downloads


House meet bridge, #Irene | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

 6092381265_778a23b391_z.jpg   204.61K   3 downloads





This picture was taken after the water drained away, but you can see that this house is now submerged in solid mud.  
http://www.flickr.co.../in/photostream

 6092851143_0dca4b07f0_z.jpg   196.21K   3 downloads




A harrowing story of what it was like fleeing the floodwaters:

http://www.watershed...choharie-valley

Quote

[W]e heard the dam siren. We looked at each other and knowing what we had to do, grabbed what we could. and ran outside and got in my van. Knowing that Wells Avenue and Main were already flooded by the small creek by the high school, we drove up Cliff Street and down Straub Lane. The creek by Main Street was already overflowing and there were large limbs and wood on the span. Mike jumped out and, running through the water, tossed the the wood out of the way. We turned left up Main and went up Cotton Hill. People were gathering at the town garage but we wanted to get up as far as we could. We got about a mile past the old dump before we encountered a large tree across the road. Power lines were drooping across the road.

We turned around and went to the town garage. People pouring in but the kids wanted to get higher and we went up to the old dump … Looking down Cotton Hill, we saw the Valley for the first time. What looked like sky turned out to be water. The Valley was flooded except for a few small islands.

And from a higher vantage point, the "lucky ones":

http://www.watershed...on-irene-update

Quote

We were safely outside the storm zone, but we figured we’d lose power, so we ground extra coffee, filled the bathtub and several jars with water, and made sure the yard was picked up of debris in the event of high winds. Down at the farm, the chickens and turkeys were brought in off pasture. We scattered wood shavings on the barn floor, tied up panels for temporary pens, then secured tarps along the open front to protect them from the rain. Dad and mom herded the sheep a mile up Heathen Creek road to the other farm we rent, which is on higher ground. We assumed we were over-prepared. We hoped we were.

We weren’t. We are too cut-off from the world right now to know what, exactly, came through Schoharie County on Sunday. Maybe it was just the fringe of the storm. Maybe Irene herself was checking out life in the Catskills. All I know was that at 9:30 Sunday morning, we lost power, as predicted. At 10 am, our phone rang with an automated message from our county’s emergency response system. Earlier storm predictions had been greatly underestimated for our area. If we were in an area prone to flooding, the message told us to evacuate immediately. As best as I can figure, only those of us high and safe on the mountain tops got the call. Most folks down below had already lost service. But even high up here, we heard the evacuation sirens.

SchoharieCountyresidents make their lives in three different habitats. On top of the mountains, in the mountains, and down in the valleys. Bob and I live on top of a mountain. We watched the rains with interest and played with our daughters. My family’s farm, Sap Bush Hollow, is in the mountains, flanked on two sides by ordinarily pristine, calm mountain streams. Mom and dad sat in their house and watched them rage over the creek banks, come frighteningly close to the house, and cause the roads boil and rip. They were so fast and furious, one lane of the road on either side of the farm completely fell away, leaving a ten foot drop to the raging water. Two days after the storm, portions of the County Route 4 continue to fall away. It is no longer passable on the East side. The west side is not far behind. The bridge toHeathen Creek Roadwas completely washed away, separating us from our sheep.

We were the lucky ones. Last I heard, we still couldn’t get to the Middleburgh orSchoharieValleys, where most of the vegetable farmers and many of our friends had their homes. I presume everyone got out safely, but I don’t think they had anything more than the shirts on their backs. We don’t know where folks are at this point.

Also:
http://www.watershed...on-irene-update


SFG

Edited by Sci-Fi Girl, 14 September 2011 - 09:56 PM.

[Sci-Fi Girl]

Part 2 of 4


Here is a story about a town where the public school was significantly damaged, in addition to the many homes destroyed.


http://www.watershed...rgh-after-irene

Quote

Flood waters destroyed the cafeteria, the computer lab, and a CAD facility. The new $77,000 track was also destroyed. Photo by Marty Rosen.

"We didn't lose anybody, we lost things," said Weaver, as students shoveled mud from classrooms. She alternated between tears and pride, describing how now homeless families came from the shelter to help.

She can't say when school will open for the 900 students at the pre-K to 12 district.  

Brian Sherman, Schoharie Central School superintendent, said his buildings were not damaged but an opening date has not been set.

These people and their children worked to save their school, instead of trying to salvage their ravaged homes.  In several towns, they are still not sure when school will be able to start.


Two public libraries were in the path of this.  One had a foot of water flowing through it. I don't know how bad the other is, but it's probably worse.  They are trying to dry off and save the books.  They definitely lost all of their computers.  


That website is still having image troubles.  The pictures are of muddy streets, muddy people working to clean up the town, and piles of ruined possessions lining the streets.  Pictures like this one:

 middleburgh 2011-08-31_10-29.jpg   364.51K   3 downloads


SFG

[Nonny]

{{{{{{{{{{{SFG}}}}}}}}}}}

Holy freaking cow.    

[Sci-Fi Girl]

^ No kidding.  I have never been this close to a major disaster before.  It's incredibly humbling.



part 3 of 4


Roads are out all over the place.  There are lots of detours and inaccessible places.

Here is a road with one crazy ravine that stranded residents:

http://www.watershed...d-oliverea-road





 Ravine on Rte. 47-Oliverea Road.jpg   100.37K   3 downloads









What did I say about people working together and helping each other out?   When no-one knows you need help?  Be resourceful!

Quote

We took the county equipment, hotwired it, and cleared the road ourselves.

To the climbing part:  



Inside the ravine:





SFG

[Sci-Fi Girl]

One more video:


Neighbors build a bridge



I chewed my lip while watching this, but I cheered at the end!     


SFG

Edited by Sci-Fi Girl, 15 September 2011 - 11:10 PM.

[Sci-Fi Girl]

part 4 of 4


"Tide: loads of hope" has set up their mobile laundromat here, and is doing free laundry for the flood victims.  Many people in the shelters have lost everything they own.  Mountains of clothes have been donated, but how are they supposed to wash them?  There are many other people who simply have no hot water or electricity, or even no safe water at all.  There are places offering free showers, but again, no laundry.  So I think Loads of Hope has been a big help!


Volunteers have been helping residents clean out and try to salvage what is left of their houses.  Anything that was exposed to floodwater is now considered hazardous material, because the floodwater was filled with propane from busted tanks, plus who knows what other contaminants. So they must remove any belongings that are contaminated, in many cases that means everything they own.  They are shoveling out mud, gutting houses, and cutting away walls, because all contaminated sheet-rock must go.  I spoke to one woman who said there was 6 inches of mud to shovel out of the house she helped clean.  The hazardous garbage piles grow higher and higher, showing just how much people have lost.

Many people had no flood insurance, because they were certain they were above the floodplain.  As far as anyone can remember, the water has never come this high.

In several towns many houses are being condemned.  In the entire town of Prattsville, there are only 5 houses that were NOT condemned!  



Many farms were badly hit.  Millions of dollars worth of crops have been washed away, and close to harvest time.  Even crops that were not carried away, but were exposed to floodwater, must be scrapped as they are now contaminated and unsafe.  So families who have not only lost their homes, have also lost their income for the year!  So many vegetable farms are on flood-plains, because that is where the best soil is found.  We may be looking at a shortage of vegetables soon, and it's sure to affect prices.

Other farms had herds of animals carried away by the water.  And still others lost all the feed they needed for the winter.  I heard mention of dead livestock strewn along roads, but that wasn't on the news.  I guess it was too grisly.    Now I'm hearing about wandering livestock, horses and cows that have no barns to go back to.  People are trying to round them up and reunite them with their owners.

And, oddly, there are barns burning down because of "wet hay spontaneously combusting".  

http://www.watershed...pacted-flooding



These are stories from some of the towns with the worst devastation, but it seems like almost every town has been affected, in one way or another.  My post office had a foot of water in it.  Recently I drove to a relatively unaffected area, but I still had to take a detour around a gully that looked something like the one in the homemade bridge video.  Except a lot deeper!  

SFG

Edited by Sci-Fi Girl, 15 September 2011 - 11:27 PM.

[Nonny]

Sci-Fi Girl, on 15 September 2011 - 10:56 PM, said:

What did I say about people working together and helping each other out?   When no-one knows you need help?  Be resourceful!

Quote

We took the county equipment, hotwired it, and cleared the road ourselves.

        

[ilexx]

Those are awful pictures. I remember that when Irene was still up, all news channels reported; but then it seemed to have passed without major trouble and everything about it (and the aftermath) disappeared from the news almost completely around here.

So I was somehow thinking that nothing bad really happened. I'm sorry to see that I was wrong on that - and that with elections in Denmark and Germany (local), nobody cares any longer.

I hope people get through this new ordeal in a reasonable way.

[Balderdash]

When Katrina hit Louisiana I lived on the other side of Lake Pontchartrain in La Combe which is
near Slidell.  We got flooded from the lake and rain, it was like living in a third world country
for a long time.  And even though the Government fell down on the job there was no shortage of
regular people doing heroic things and helping each other.  Hell even I was able to be heroic a
time or two.  We can be our better selves, I've seen it.

[Sci-Fi Girl]

^ Oh absolutely.  Any place taking clothing donations quickly overflows with clothes.  People are donating food, volunteers are cooking meals, and other volunteers are driving around and handing those meals out.  There are volunteers, singly and in organized groups, helping people do the hard physical work of salvaging what is left of their houses and clearing away the destruction.  Large crews of helpers from the church of latter day saints have come in and done a lot of clean up work.  Schoolteachers have been volunteering on the weekends to strip ruined houses down to the beams, and are now putting some money aside to go and install insulation in those houses.  They want there to actually still be a town so families will be able to stay there.

I also posted a thread about NYC restaurants raising funds this sunday to help out farms.  So anyone in NYC on Sep 25 should check the list and eat out!  

SFG

[Palisades]

ilexx, on 16 September 2011 - 11:36 AM, said:

Those are awful pictures. I remember that when Irene was still up, all news channels reported; but then it seemed to have passed without major trouble and everything about it (and the aftermath) disappeared from the news almost completely around here.

So I was somehow thinking that nothing bad really happened. I'm sorry to see that I was wrong on that - and that with elections in Denmark and Germany (local), nobody cares any longer.

I hope people get through this new ordeal in a reasonable way.

The odd thing is that the hurricane had already weakened considerably when it did its greatest damage. IIRC, it had weakened to a tropical storm by the time it got to the states where it caused the flooding, but in the process, it went over a moist region. It sucked up a lot that moisture, and then moved really slowly over the unfortunate states, dumping the water it had picked up.

[Tricia]

Tropical storms with a lot of rain can do more damage in the way of flooding than any hurricane.  Especially if the storms 'train' over an area.

Always good to see people helping each other out and giving of their time and goods.
Makes you feel a little better about the world and people in general.

Edited by Tricia, 22 September 2011 - 06:16 PM.