Sunday, December 13, 2009

Water, Water Everywhere

**

It’s not that I hate water. I just hate water running two feet deep down the street I’m trying to drive on. I hate water when it falls from the sky at the rate of nearly six inches in an hour. I hate water when I sit marooned for 90 minutes watching car after car die an ugly, sloshing death before me.

No, this isn’t our car. We had enough sense to pull off Severn onto a higher, nearby parking lot and wait for the water to go down (despite the fact Steve just bought a hulking big Toyota SUV). The driver of this Lexus wasn’t that smart.

Heavy rains are a part of life in New Orleans. But this one was a bit unusual. You see, the previous record rainfall for the month of December in New Orleans was only something like 10.7 inches. As of 9 pm last night, we’d broken that record, with 12.7 inches of rain recorded so far this month. And there’s still a lot of December left.

I like Al Gore’s phrase, “climate change deniers.”

9 comments:

orannia said...

Hmmm. Maybe all those politicans and diplomats currently in Copenhagen arguing should spend some time in New Orleans, among other places.

That is a lot of rain! Glad you all (and the truck :) are OK!

orannia said...

Oh, forgot to say. I started reading What Remains of Heaven yesterday! Drat chores that got in the way! I would like to say I'm all for Hero, but I seem to have a very bad track record (I always pick the wrong character in love triangles) so I'm only registering interest *grin*

cs harris said...

Orannia, Steve was--as always--much calmer than I; I kept saying, Please don't flood out your two-week-old new car! (My daughter drowned my VW in one these downpours two years ago)

I'm glad you're enjoying Heaven. As for what the future holds, my lips are sealed....

Lainey said...

A familiar picture to those of us in Houston! So much of Houston is at sea level.
But New Orleans, being below sea level, is truly dangerous.

cs harris said...

Lainey, yes, I remember seeing the footage of Houston during TS Alision. Tropical-style downpours and endless miles of paving just don't mix well.

Steve Malley said...

I heard once that Seattle was originally way below sea level, and of course with every strong rain the water tried to find its common ground. This led to every toilet and privy in the city fountaining up into the air!

Of course, I seem to remember the same thing happening in early New Orleans, with caskets in the graveyard! Ewwwww :)

Still, I do miss those wild New Orleans rains...

Anonymous said...

Wasn't it terrible. A lot of my friends were stuck uptown underwater. You'd think that by now they would know to turn the pumps on when bad rain is forecasted. Oh well. Two more rainy days ahead! Stay dry.

Charles Gramlich said...

We got quite a bit here but not so bad. But then there was the May 8th flood in 95, 25 inches in 24 hours I think. A huge flood. We even got water in our house that time.

cs harris said...

Steve, they had trouble with floating caskets during Katrina.

mcarmalgirl, I'm getting very tired of the sound of rain!

Charles, I'm glad I missed 95. I remember watching it on TV from Australia.