Author Topic: It's Getting A Little Bit Squishy Over Here...  (Read 312 times)

edwardofhuncote

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It's Getting A Little Bit Squishy Over Here...
« on: May 21, 2020, 03:00:28 AM »
I reckon quite a few other places too.  :P

I've dumped almost 8 inches out of the rain gauge here at work since Monday, and it's still coming down. The lower areas of Roanoke are now flooded. I got the call at 1:15 am to come on in to work, cascading failures had begun. We had a pretty good handle on things by 4:30, so I put some coffee on and headed for the locker room. It's going to be a long couple days, and for the ones of us who have been at this gig this long, you learn to pace yourself and make use of the quiet before the storm. 

We'll be boarding up and sand-bagging our Pump Station here this morning when it gets light enough out. 5 million gallons a day (about 25% of the City's daily water supply) run through there, and while the electric motors are on the upper floor, out of the flood zone, the less mud and filth that gets washed in the downstairs and pipe gallery, the better. The plywood for the doors and windows is already cut to fit, numbered for orientation, and pre-drilled for screws. The caulk is loaded in the guns. The batteries for the screw drills are charged. The trucks are fueled. We don't mess around.  8)

All joking and bravado aside, I've lived here most of my life, seen two major flood events nearly wipe this town out, the first in November of 1985, and again in April of 1992. This has all the makings of another catastrophic event. 

hammer

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Re: It's Getting A Little Bit Squishy Over Here...
« Reply #1 on: May 21, 2020, 06:19:40 AM »
Sorry to hear about your having to deal with another disaster and stressor. Our thoughts and support go out to you and the good people of your area.

gearhed289

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Re: It's Getting A Little Bit Squishy Over Here...
« Reply #2 on: May 21, 2020, 07:27:48 AM »
Wow, stay safe! My town has several road closures right now. The Des Plaines River is at historic levels - 5th highest crest on record.


cozmik_cowboy

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Re: It's Getting A Little Bit Squishy Over Here...
« Reply #3 on: May 21, 2020, 07:51:12 AM »
Wow, stay safe! My town has several road closures right now. The Des Plaines River is at historic levels - 5th highest crest on record.


The Kishwaukee is pretty darn high, too; mostly bike & hiking paths covered here in DeKalb, but in and around Sycamore, it has closed a number of roads several times this past week.  Water also been coming in the southeast corner of our basement, but fortunately it just runs back out the drain in the northwest corner.

The Lovey & Charming Mrs. Cowboy read a couple days ago this is the wettest May in 60 years - and we still have almost half of it to go.

Peter
"Is not Hypnocracy no other than the aspiration to discover the meaning of Hypnocracy?  Have you heard the one about the yellow dog yet?"
St. Dilbert

"If I could explain it in prose, i wouldn't have had to write the song."
Robt. Hunter

David Houck

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Re: It's Getting A Little Bit Squishy Over Here...
« Reply #4 on: May 21, 2020, 09:29:45 AM »
Hoping everyone stays safe and dry.

keith_h

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Re: It's Getting A Little Bit Squishy Over Here...
« Reply #5 on: May 21, 2020, 03:06:29 PM »
Hope y'all stay safe. We've had rain since Monday but fortunately it has been more of an inconvenience than major event.

edwardofhuncote

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Re: It's Getting A Little Bit Squishy Over Here...
« Reply #6 on: May 21, 2020, 06:44:07 PM »
What a day. I'm home now, but plum whupped...  :P

The flood warnings issued have been extended until Saturday afternoon. We're still at 100% operational. There is 2.7 feet of water coming over the spillway at Carvins Cove reservoir, which is huge. No one can remember that since the '85 flood.

We got my Pump Station across town boarded up and sandbagged today. All the pumps in here are still running and so far the water has not made it to the building. It's going to be close... man, it just needs to quit raining. This Pump Station is being replaced in the next couple years anyway... it dates to 1953, and replaced a Steam Engine Pump that dates to 1905. (also still there, but just for historic purposes) The new building will be up the street, attached to the Water Plant, more importantly, out of the flood zone. You can see how close our Pump Station is to the water from the front of the Hospital next door.
« Last Edit: May 21, 2020, 06:58:06 PM by edwardofhuncote »

rv_bass

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Re: It's Getting A Little Bit Squishy Over Here...
« Reply #7 on: May 22, 2020, 03:55:36 AM »
That’s a lot of water!  Looking at the radar looks like the heavy stuff has passed (for now).  Hope it stays clear and the water recedes soon.  Stay high and dry!

gearhed289

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Re: It's Getting A Little Bit Squishy Over Here...
« Reply #8 on: May 22, 2020, 07:29:13 AM »
The Kishwaukee is pretty darn high, too; mostly bike & hiking paths covered here in DeKalb, but in and around Sycamore, it has closed a number of roads several times this past week.  Water also been coming in the southeast corner of our basement, but fortunately it just runs back out the drain in the northwest corner.

Wow, one of my biggest customers (Upstaging) is in Sycamore. I should check in with some of the guys.

My house is in a class A flood zone, but we're fine. There was a flood in 1986, so it's considered a flood zone until 2086. We've been here for 20 years, and the only time we took on a few inches of water was when the power was out for over 3 days and I had no sump pump. I was totally unprepared with no generator, battery backup, or even a wet vac! These things have since been acquired.  ;D When it's really bad like this, I get some minor seepage that's mostly just an annoying 5-10 minutes with the wet vac to clean up. I JUST got a new area rug for my little studio, but I'm not putting it down for another week. The ground is just waterlogged. Grass looks great though!  8)
Edward, it sounds like you're kicking butt out there! Hope you get some rest.

cozmik_cowboy

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Re: It's Getting A Little Bit Squishy Over Here...
« Reply #9 on: May 22, 2020, 08:13:52 AM »
The Kishwaukee is pretty darn high, too; mostly bike & hiking paths covered here in DeKalb, but in and around Sycamore, it has closed a number of roads several times this past week.  Water also been coming in the southeast corner of our basement, but fortunately it just runs back out the drain in the northwest corner.

Wow, one of my biggest customers (Upstaging) is in Sycamore. I should check in with some of the guys.

My house is in a class A flood zone, but we're fine. There was a flood in 1986, so it's considered a flood zone until 2086. We've been here for 20 years, and the only time we took on a few inches of water was when the power was out for over 3 days and I had no sump pump. I was totally unprepared with no generator, battery backup, or even a wet vac! These things have since been acquired.  ;D When it's really bad like this, I get some minor seepage that's mostly just an annoying 5-10 minutes with the wet vac to clean up. I JUST got a new area rug for my little studio, but I'm not putting it down for another week. The ground is just waterlogged. Grass looks great though!  8)
Edward, it sounds like you're kicking butt out there! Hope you get some rest.


When this whole thing broke, Upstaging immediately transitioned to making face shields for healthcare workers; now they're working with the City of Sycamore to provide point-of-sale shields for local businesses (the city pays, Upstaging charges a low price, every business with a customer-facing location, like a cash register, gets one free if they want it).


Helping protect public health, and keeping their people working; they seem to be good folks.


Peter
"Is not Hypnocracy no other than the aspiration to discover the meaning of Hypnocracy?  Have you heard the one about the yellow dog yet?"
St. Dilbert

"If I could explain it in prose, i wouldn't have had to write the song."
Robt. Hunter

edwardofhuncote

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Re: It's Getting A Little Bit Squishy Over Here...
« Reply #10 on: June 17, 2020, 10:27:33 AM »
Here we go AGAIN. Flash Flood Warnings just went up... 5" of precip since Sunday, more on the way. Roll yer britches up, and cue the Soggy Bottom Boyz.  ::)



cozmik_cowboy

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Re: It's Getting A Little Bit Squishy Over Here...
« Reply #11 on: June 17, 2020, 01:30:07 PM »
We seem to be in a pattern of a week of rain, then a couple weeks of nothing; c'mon, Minerva - my tomatoes need a steady, reasonable amount!

Roll up your pantlegs and hang in there, Greg.

Peter
 
"Is not Hypnocracy no other than the aspiration to discover the meaning of Hypnocracy?  Have you heard the one about the yellow dog yet?"
St. Dilbert

"If I could explain it in prose, i wouldn't have had to write the song."
Robt. Hunter

keith_h

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Re: It's Getting A Little Bit Squishy Over Here...
« Reply #12 on: June 17, 2020, 01:46:50 PM »
Its been rather wet here as well. The video shows the intersection where we get off the interstate to head towards a state park we like to camp at. In fact we head there tomorrow. Other roads in that county are also flooded so it looks like I'll be finding a new way. I'm      guessing we won't be getting much hiking in as most of the trails in that park follow a large creek (really more of a small river) that passes through it.

https://www.wral.com/sky5-flies-over-nash-county-looking-at-flood-damage/19148872/

bigredbass

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Re: It's Getting A Little Bit Squishy Over Here...
« Reply #13 on: June 17, 2020, 06:05:38 PM »
In the late 50's, Hurricane Audrey came ashore in that big empty part of Louisiana between the Texas Line and New Orleans.  The earliest memory I have is my Dad, carrying a 4-year old me through a dark living room . . . . . through waist-deep water on that grown man. 

He carried me out through the garage, into a howling rain, to our next door neighbor's house, and old-timer that was way up off the ground on piles and piles of cinder block risers (our house was a slab house on the ground).  He climbed up the front steps onto the porch which was just out of the flood water.  My Mom and Dad and the neighbors stayed up all night making percolator coffee on a gas range (electricity was long gone by then) and listening to a battery radio and waiting it out.  Me, my sister, and the neighbor kids slept on pallets on the floor, and I still remember the wind and thunder and hearing the water lapping under the house just beneath the floor as I lay there.

Folks that grow up on the Gulf Coast get used to it in a way (as I suppose Californians endure fires and occasional window-rattler), but never completely.  I've lived in Tennessee since '90, and EVERY time there's a storm incoming on the Gulf Coast, I'm STILL glued to the Weather Channel as if I still lived there.  Mrs. Wilson (born and raised Nashvillian) has seen too many Jimmy Buffet videos and thought she'd like to live 'at the beach'.  I've unfortunately burst that bubble:  It's great, but every so often you got to pay for the privelege, and we're too old to evacuate or rebuild.  Shame . . . . .

Greg, you take good care of yourself and BE CAREFUL, OK ? ?