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July 22, 2006

The plagues of Egypt Earlville

Egypt had ten of 'em, and they have my sympathies. We're at three plagues this summer, and they are no fun at all.

  1. Flooding. People died, property was destroyed, the cleanup ranges from difficult to disgusting. In Sherburne, the primary flooding was from the sewers. Just imagine. In my county alone, the road repairs will cost $7 million.
  2. Mosquitos, the natural consequence of standing water from the flooding. Hordes—and I am not exaggerating—of 'em. Even doused in Cutters, you get bitten. After being bitten a lot, you no longer get actual welts. Just little pink spots that sting like hell.
  3. Slugs. Garden slugs. Hordes of 'em. They have ruined the rhubarb and the hosta, despite the best efforts of EscarGo. Now they are actually up on the raspberry plants, destroying the fruit. Picking raspberries (when it's not raining) is disgusting and discouraging.
So now what? Earlier this month, the 300-year flood in upstate New York occurred as a result of 8" of rain in 2-1/2 days. Right now we're at 4" of rain in 12 hours. The Weather Channel swears it will let off tonight. But in the meantime, how much more water will we get, and what will be the consequence? Here's the current flash flood warning on the WC website—with a couple of annotations compliments of yours truly:
* AT 1148 AM EDT...VERY HEAVY RAIN WAS REPORTED IN NORTHERN CHENANGO [that's us, and that's no lie]... SOUTHEASTERN MADISON AND NORTHERN OTSEGO COUNTIES. THIS AREA HAS ALREADY RECEIVED 1.5 TO 2 INCHES OF RAIN. [correction, Bub: the rain gauge in our back yard says 4 inches] THE HEAVY RAIN WILL CONTINUE INTO THE EARLY AFTERNOON WITH AN ADDITIONAL 1 TO 2 INCHES OF RAIN EXPECTED [lovely. since you're reporting 1/2 of the actual rain we've received, shall we double this and expect another 2-4" this afternoon?], WHICH WILL RESULT IN FLASH FLOODING OF SMALL STREAMS [wow, Sherlock!]. SOME STREAMS THAT WILL BE AFFECTED INCLUDE THE HEADWATERS OF THE UNADILLA RIVER, BUTTERNUT CREEK AND WHARTON CREEK.

* LOCATIONS IN THE WARNING INCLUDE, BUT ARE NOT LIMITED TO SHERBURNE [that's the next town south of us, and I don't know how much more those poor bastards can handle], COOPERSTOWN, EDMESTON, BURLINGTON, BROOKFIELD AND NEW BERLIN.

Posted by senioritis at July 22, 2006 12:36 PM

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