Sunday, April 04, 2010

The Aftermath

What a week.  And what a mess.  The rain finally stopped on Wednesday, and the sun began to show up from behind the clouds.  But it only did that after the flooding closed interstate 95 right smack in the middle of the state.  It wreaked havoc for commuters all coming from all directions.  Normally the closure wouldn't have affected me, because I live and work south of the closed portion.  However traffic was backed up for miles, and I would have been screwed if I had to go to work on that day.  I had to go to jury duty on Wednesday in Providence, but knew enough to take the backroads and circumnavigate half the state to get there.  (And that only took 45 minutes.  Because we're such a small state.)  Todd had slept at his office on Tuesday night, and fortunately didn't have to commute through the insanity either.

He took much of Wednesday off to help people he knew whose houses had been flooded.  He waded in waist deep water to get to a Home Depot so that he could get a pump.  Luckily he didn't have to go to the Warwick Mall, photo below.  (I do not know who took these photos.  I'd love to give you credit, because they are amazing.)

The Warwick Mall is right near where the highway was closed.  According to NPR, there was 20" of water in some of the stores.  Just to the left of the trees in the bottom left of the picture is where the water is supposed to be.  It extended all the way across the parking lot, and completely flooded the buildings right in the center and toward the bottom of the picture.  Not in this shot is the apartment complex off the left side of the photos.  The complex has since been condemned. 


This is about 10 miles south of where we live.  No, a bomb did not go off in the middle of the street, it was the rushing water.

The town of West Warwick was one of the baddest hit.  This is an evacuation of some old mill buildings in that town.

This is on the other side of the Warwick Mall, presumably taken on Tuesday during the height of the rain.

We still have the large puddles in our driveway, and that's the only real hassle we've sustained through all this.  On Saturday I noticed frogs playing in the puddles.  At first I saw only one when we were leaving to go somewhere.  Then later on there were two when we left to go to Home Depot.  When we got back from dinner on Saturday night, there were roughly 8-10 frogs lounging in this puddle and singing to each other.  On Sunday I captured this shot of two of them doing it.  Be advised, if you get it on in my driveway, I WILL take a photo and I will post it to my blog. 

Overall, we've been very lucky and extremely fortunate.  There are so many people who have been forced from their homes.  I am still seeing hoses extend out from basements and pouring into streets when I drive around.  I see piles of dirty carpets piled on the side of roads I ride on.  I have heard the horror stories, and I am so thankful not to be a part of that.

The water is receeding, and the frog population is growing.

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2 Comments:

Blogger Taoist Biker said...

I'm glad to hear an update from you; we've been concerned, even though the last news was fair all things considered...

Just the flash flood last August did 15 million dollars worth of damage just to this campus alone, not to mention the rest of the city. I can't imagine what a true, multi-day catastrophic flood like this will do.

April 5, 2010 at 8:07 AM  
Blogger BJ Knapp said...

We're totally fine. Though I don't think I'll be shopping at the mall any time soon. Nor will I donate blood at the blood center adjacent to the mall, or use the urgent care facility there too. Nor will I go to the movies near the mall either.

It's so sad, the stories I've been hearing. There were live bunnies in the mall, for the easter bunny pictures. The bunnies didn't make it either. I still do not know why nobody brought them home!

April 5, 2010 at 10:35 AM  

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