Thursday, September 02, 2021

Where The Water Goes

I actually wrote this, then decided not to publish it because one man's summer shower is obviously another person's calamity, and I have nothing but sympathy for the flooding in NYC. But then Rick Wilson tweeted about it, and I figured I couldn't be doing worse. From what I understand it is, actually. It’s the geology of the area, and something to do with an underground river that is no longer there due to engineering.

OCICBW.

I’m still surprised it only takes 3 inches to do this. I have a weather station on my house, I’ve recorded more ran than that in an hour this summer. The streets didn’t even fill up.

Which is not to say NYC doesn’t have my sympathies. Obviously this is unprecedented.  But I never realized how much difference geography makes to flooding.  Well, I did:  flash floods in the Hill Country outside Austin can be prompted by just a few inches of rain that we wouldn't even notice here on the Third Coast.  But I'm realizing the truism of real estate when it comes to floods, too:  location, location, location.  Houston would barely notice 3 inches of rain; NYC is almost broken by it.

Again, my sympathies to all involved.  Ida cut a swathe from Louisiana to (at least) Cape Cod.  Nobody has bragging rights here, it's just interesting how much difference geography makes.  And I never thought of New York and environs as being anywhere near the same as the Texas Hill Country (I understand some areas got 8 inches, which is indeed too much water in too short a time).
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2 comments:

  1. The Thought Criminal4:13 PM

    Hey, you want to talk about inches of snow?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Rmj5:25 PM

    Well, an inch of snow would bring this city to its knees (it does, if ever it snows here). But I recorded 1.65 inches of rain in about 45 minutes this afternoon, which apparently would shut down Central Park.

    I guess it's all relative.

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