Flooding

[sundial]

This is an overlook that shows how far reaching the flood is. The Black River bridge can be seen in the background.



Heading north and approaching the bridge. Although the water never came over the bridge, it flooded the lower lying areas, including the Wal-Mart parking lot located adjacent to this bridge.



This billboard is at least 30 feet above the ground and the water was lapping the bottom edge by Saturday.





This park was just recently reopened. The water had covered the Century Wall and had covered the sidewalks close to the road. The road was just re-opened to traffic.

[Tuckervill]

I have a rental property near Little Rock. About 3 feet of one corner of a bedroom is located in the 500-year flood plain of a creek that is at least 300 yards away, downhill. As a result, we are required to have flood insurance. $1200 a year! Equal or more than our hazard insurance. It's a joke in this instance. I get hassled about it by the government every year. I don't know how people in actual flood plains get away with not having it.

Karen

[bmccasland]

You can thank some of those lessons learned after Katrina and Rita. Don't ask my why, but in some parts of New Orleans (the city proper), home owners whose homes were lower in elevation than mine (my neighborhood is rated -3.5 ft) were not, repeat NOT, required to have flood insurance, and many did not. It was very difficult to listen to the poor-little-rich-girl who used to sit in the cube across from mine whine about having 6 ft of water in her house, but they didn't have flood insurance - and her husband is an economist (poor-little-rich-kid too). OK, I'm cranky this evening for some reason, so I'll stop before I put both feet in my mouth.

Anyway, thanks to lessons learned after the hurricanes of 2005, more areas are being assessed for potential flood hazard, and folks are now being required by their mortgage companies to have flood insurance.

Oh, and better for parks to flood than homes and businesses. Bad for park, but better for houses. And all that green space absorbs the water better than streets and driveways.

[sundial]

Yes, I agree. I wish it had only flooded the park. Unfortunately, homes were flooded because many are situated in vast flat farmlands where the water can't go anywhere. It'll be another 2 days or so before we know the extant of the damage to homes.

Beth, I can't believe many of the NOLA people didn't have flood insurance.

[bmccasland]

In a city with 30% poverty rate it isn't that surprising. What amazed me were the number upper-middle class that didn't have insurance. Something like 60% of the folks in the Lower 9th actually owned their homes, often they inherited them. It's mortgage companies that force you to have flood insurance, so if your house isn't mortgaged, and you're barely getting by, insurance is not your first priority.

Many thanks to the High School and College kids who are giving up their spring breaks to come help rebuild. Met some nice kids from Farmington, NM the other day while taking my dog for a walk - they're staying in a neighborhood church that provides bunk housing for volunteers. One of the boys is on his second trip.

[sundial]

After Katrina, my dad went there with a mobile disaster unit to help prepare meals for the relief workers and the locals. He remembers vividly standing on a street corner, handing out care boxes of non-perishables. A woman walked up with a small child and handed him a small stuffed red heart. Her eyes met his briefly before turning to leave. My dad just stood there, tears rolling down his cheeks.

He was forever changed by that.

[bmccasland]

Yeah, and I have a warm place in my heart for some CMA (Chrisian Motorcycle Assoc) guys who set up a field kitchen in Chalmette. In the early days after the storm I was working in the area, and when I came back that evening suffering from heat exhaustion, these big burly biker guys brought me in the kitchen, parked me in front of a fan, put a bottle of cold water in one hand, bottle of cold gatorade in the other and made me drink both, gave me a cold cloth for my neck, then told me brownies cured everything and handed me one. Then they offered me hot dinner. Meanwhile I'd been watching shell shocked firefighters from all over come through their line, enjoying their first hot fresh meal in days instead of MREs. The CMA guys didn't ask permission (FEMA or Red Cross) other than the local sheriff - they just moved in. Once the Red Cross found out about the kitchen, they restocked it. They weren't pushy about a message, had little pocket sized Bibles on the buffet line, they were living their faith.

[boy in a kilt]

I saw those CWA guys running around too. They didn't seem like the sort to ask permission and there probably wasn't anyone to ask anyway. We had the Salvation Army handing out food and cold soda in our sector too. I never managed to get any of that. Usually because when they stopped by, I was either out rooting around for supplies or in the middle of something else. But, I always knew I had an MRE somewhere with my name on it. Good enough.

I made semi-regular food and water drops to a few families down there. I had to show a few of them how to work an MRE heater and some of the ways you can mix stuff to make it taste better. One poor lady got the Army's version of dirty rice and was utterly appalled.

When you've watched someone pick over what's left of their belongings, or talked to someone who is having to start over with nothing, flood insurance seems pretty cheap.

[Geonz]

Puts into perspective the fact that my basement is all wet for unkonwn reasons right now. It's not raining and it was dry this a.m. The plumber's coming tomorrow.j... and since I've loaned my house out it doesn't even *bother* me directly and they're going to cover it ... but there are boxes I'd moved that have gotten wet... I'm afraid some old school files will ahve to go, whih prolly should have gone a long time ago... and Pete just brought me a beer 'cause they think I need it when *he's* hte one just spent an hour hoovering out the muck.
But it's so far from being everything!!!

[Flybye]

Yeah, and I have a warm place in my heart for some CMA (Chrisian Motorcycle Assoc) guys who set up a field kitchen in Chalmette. In the early days after the storm I was working in the area, and when I came back that evening suffering from heat exhaustion, these big burly biker guys brought me in the kitchen, parked me in front of a fan, put a bottle of cold water in one hand, bottle of cold gatorade in the other and made me drink both, gave me a cold cloth for my neck, then told me brownies cured everything and handed me one. Then they offered me hot dinner. Meanwhile I'd been watching shell shocked firefighters from all over come through their line, enjoying their first hot fresh meal in days instead of MREs. The CMA guys didn't ask permission (FEMA or Red Cross) other than the local sheriff - they just moved in. Once the Red Cross found out about the kitchen, they restocked it. They weren't pushy about a message, had little pocket sized Bibles on the buffet line, they were living their faith.

What a great story. I have the opportunity to live across the street from a man who is am member of the Christian Motorcycle Association. He is one of the greatest men I have ever met. He get SO EXCITED when they head out for an adventure. Once their group spoke at a church and I had an opportunity to hear their stories. They were people who had experienced horrific childhoods - verbal, physical, and sexual abuse - and later in life had recovered from addictions, scraped themselves up from the bottom of the barrel and went on to help others. Some truly amazing people. Thanks for sharing.

[sundial]

One of the major highways was shut down again today because of flooding. The river is now at 22 ft--still well above flood stage. We had rains the last couple days and it didn't help matters. I still can't ride my road or mountain bike at my favorite locations because of the flood.

Anyone have a blueprint for an ark?

[sundial]

Oh, wanted to add, FEMA tried to survey the damage Monday but were rained out. Tell me God doesn't have a sense of humor.