Mother Nature Strikes Back

The Pacific Northwest is known for rainy weather. Even so, what we've gotten in the past two days swamps even what we are used to. 5" of rain fell in one 24 period in the Seattle area yesterday and the result is a lot of standing water in places where standing water usually doesnt appear as well as a lot of rivers that are at, near or over flood stage.

Needless to say, this has made the television stations and newspapers quite happy because they thrive in times of crisis. I cant tell you how many times we saw the same people over and over being interviewed on television last night; all bemoaning the water which found its way inside their backyards, garages and houses. There were interminable pictures of reporters sloshing through giant puddles of water, bringing up the sickly pleasurable thought that those morons just might put their hand in the wrong spot and get electrocuted. Of course there are ten more reporters waiting in the wings so the net result and lesson for the day is we will NEVER get rid of television reporters, no matter how many of them think it's a good idea to wade through giant puddles with electrical equipment in their hands.

The precursor to all of this occurred last Thursday and Friday with the advent of winds of up to 55mph. I sat in the offices of Mr. Helpful and watched two trees directly outside my window literally break in half and crash to the ground. It was quite amazing to watch, especially when I realized that if the wind had been blowing in my direction, both trunks (at least three feet in diameter) would have crashed upon the roof of my apartment. It made for an exciting evening, let me tell you.

Now the sun has risen, the rain has stopped and only a couple of rivers have yet to crest. One of them is in Mt. Vernon where the crest is supposed to occur tonight around 7pm at 38 feet which is 12 feet above flood stage. I grew up in Mt. Vernon and spent the first 20 years of my life there. The Skagit River runs right next to downtown and, even as I type, workers are furiously sandbagging major downtown buildings in the hopes of keeping the inevitable torrent of water from getting inside. Hope they are successful because the last time the water got this high in 1990, it caused about 160 million bucks in damage.

Posted by Mr. Helpful at October 21, 2003 12:11 PM