What a mess!

Wednesday, December 05, 2007 Filed in: Current Events, My Life
First off, thanks to those who sent emails inquiring about my welfare in the wake of the storms that battered Oregon. I guess we made the national news!

The storms dropped a huge amount of rain in our state, as well as our neighbors to the north in Washington. There were places that recorded in excess of a foot of rain inside of 48 hours, and the result was widespread flooding.

Particularly hard-hit are the smaller tributaries and shallower rivers. Interstate 5, the north-south route between California and Canada, is under water at Chehalis, WA and not expected to reopen until at least Thursday. Several towns in Oregon, notably Vernonia and Tillamook, are just now digging out from the muck left behind - that is, if the water has even receded yet.

Of course, the old debate about subsidizing (through government-backed flood insurance) the continuous rebuilding of houses in flood plains has been re-ignited, and the result will no doubt be the maintenance of the status quo. (Isn't that always the case?)

My wife and I live well above any flood-prone areas and have soil which is well drained; we have had no problems other than short power outages and some internet connectivity issues. I am glad, however, that last Saturday I looked up at my gutters and decided to clean out the maple leaves!

-=[ Grant ]=-
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