Monday, August 16, 2010

And the Water Will Rise

Everyone knows that the majority of New Orleans is below sea level and that a little storm named Katrina caused massive flooding a few years back. Knowing this information, I still did not expect a phone call at 5:30 the other morning from our landlords warning that the streets were flooding and we may want to move our vehicles to higher ground. Almost every morning this past week I have been woken by thunderstorms but come mid-day it is all clear. However, after receiving a warning phone call I got up to check things out. Billy was up and had moved his car and Evan’s car (since Evan was still out of town at that point). I decided my SUV was safe where it was but I went with Brie to move her car. We parked in the Langenstein’s parking lot which is slightly elevated and only a block away. To get back to our house though, we had to wade through calf-deep water in the streets. When I got up a few hours later the rain had stopped and the water was gone. Some cars were still parked in the raised medians between the streets though. I suppose flash flooding is something I will have to get used to and perhaps prepare a little better for!

On another rain related note: I check the Doppler fairly often, but unfortunately things are not as easy to predict here as they were in Virginia. At home the rain comes from the west 99% of the time. If it is raining in West Virginia there is a good chance it will cross the mountains and head our way. Very rarely did I ever see storms coming from the east. Down here however, there could be a huge orange and red blob on the radar and unless I "loop" it I have no clue as to whether it is coming towards New Orleans or not?! They get rain from the north, south, east, and west!!

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