Sometime in the middle of the night, my little watchdog woke me up. She was barking and pacing frantically, and her sister was guarding my living room windows. Within just a minute or two the first crash of lightning came, along with heavy rain. The girls headed for their kennels, their duties completed.
It was a doozey of a storm. Nearly constant lightning and accompanying thunder crashed and rumbled. The rain continued, and finally eased up close to dawn. I dozed for a while until the second wave hit. This one wasn't as severe or as long in duration. It is going on 10 AM now, and the rain is still falling, but the thunder and lightning have moved on. I waited for the power to go out, but luckily that hasn't happened in my neighborhood.
A little over an hour ago I turned on the scanner for my county. Streets are flooded. Water is boiling up out of the storm drains. The main highway running southwest of here is closed in several places with water over the road. County roads are flooded or washed out. Several creeks criss-cross the area and most of them are over their banks. And a mud slide has closed yet another road. Even the levels of water in some of the lakes are threatening homes along the shores.
The Department of Transportation has had to close so many streets and roads that they ran out of traffic cones and barriers. My oldest son, who lives southwest of me posted on Facebook that anyone going to work where he works would do well to wear their bathing suit. He works nights, and is sleeping now, but I'm sure he will call and tell me about it when he wakes up.
I live about two city blocks from the Minnesota River. I haven't heard whether the river is still within its banks. The founding fathers of my town had the good sense to build on top of the hill that runs down to the river, so flood waters have never reached this far.
I am astounded at the number of people who drive their cars around the barriers and into the water on the roads and then can't figure out why their cars stalled. I can hear the frustration in the voices of those who have to rescue these fools.
It is a really good day to stay inside where it is dry and warm. My Kindle is fully charged up. I was going to bake some bread this morning, but have decided to wait until the threat of power loss is over. I have several projects to work on that, should the power go out, will not be affected. And I am seriously considering building an ark.
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Living at the base of my sister's hill in Indiana, and 1/4 mile from the muddy ohio river, when the flood waters came up, we were stranded. People further down the road were so isolated we would use out ROW BOAT to take food to them. That was then, this is now, and I doubt anyone would bother looking out for their neighbors like we did.
ReplyDeletePeople who ignore the weather situation and then get themselves into trouble here are the bane of our fire and rescue people. I remember listening to the scanner one winter, after a bunch of tourists from Atlanta drove around a road barrier and tried to cross an icy mountain path. They got stuck half way up, no way down, no way up. Even a helicopter couldn't get in there because there was no place to land. I personally would not have risked my own life to save a bunch of sheeple suffering from a self inflicted wound. The Fire Department wound up going up the mountain in a national guard truck and getting them.
ReplyDeletelotta joy...I think you are right. People don't seem to care much about their neighbors any more. When I was growing up, and a neighbor needed help, all the farm families in the area showed up to do whatever needed doing. Nobody ever had to ask for help - help just appeared.
ReplyDeleteQuick, grab a canepole, some worms and rush to the nearest sewer flood and catch a few catfish. I understand the favor is wonderful. Never allow a crisis go to waste.
ReplyDeleteHarry...I am always surprised, though I shouldn't be, that there are so many people with mush for brains. I'll bet that within the last half hour there have been calls to rescue at least half a dozen people who stalled out their cars by driving into deep water. Barriers don't seem to mean anything to them. It kind of tickles me though, because if the vehicle isn't in any danger of floating away and if the driver is not injured, the rescue folks are letting these impatient drivers just sit there in the water until it recedes some. I can't fault the rescue people. There is so much water and so much road damage as well as real emergencies right now that it is almost overwhelming, and a stupid driver is not a priority.
ReplyDeleteStephen...Once, years ago, someone talked me into tasting bullhead, which is our relative to a catfish. Ever had fried mud? I think I will pass. Thanks all the same. ;)
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure you'd be able to get an ark down the stairs!
ReplyDeleteGood point, Gorges. That's so funny!! Maybe a rubber raft would be a better choice.
ReplyDeleteBuilding an ark, funny I just posted that. Things are nuts. over in Waverly on Hwy 12 the city is pumping water into the sewer system. The Crow river in Rockford is close to flooding yet again. We have a county road between us and Howard Lake that I'm sure is closed yet again as it has a creek flowing right next to the road.
ReplyDeleteI managed to get half the yard mowed yesterday, had hoped to finish this am, but may work on it this afternoon. I believe that we are headed for higher food prices. DOn't get me started on Gas. Its $3.49 here and I saw $3,65 this am in Plymouth.
Rob...It's been crazy here, too. I finally turned off the scanner and took a nap - had been up half the nite due to the storm.
ReplyDeleteI agree about food prices. As soon as I can get out and about again, I also am planning to stock up just as much as I possibly can, Prices sure aren't going to go any lower!
Meanwhile, it's so dry here, the ground has cracks large enough to lose a tennis ball.
ReplyDeleteJess...If I could figure out a way to do it, I'd be happy to share. Today the record here for the wettest June since records have been kept, was broken.
ReplyDelete