Tuesday - August 30, 2011

Dealing With Irene

We live up on a hill, about 60 feet above the rest of the town. All of our utility lines are underground. Thank God for that; we had no flooding, and only lost power for maybe half an hour, plus a dozen little 1 minute outages later on. Most folks in the state did not get off anywhere near as lightly.  Clinton’s iconic image is the old red mill, which sits on a mill pond by a dam right on the edge of downtown. The dam held, but for a while the waters came over the side of the pond. Here’s a link to a video of the flood running through our downtown Monday. It looks a bit worse than it is; downtown has nice tall curbs that kept most of the water in check.

Elsewhere around the state ...

The Rockaway River ate Rt 287 at Boonton. NJ has 4 major east-west highways: Rt 80, Rt78, the NJ Turnpike, and the Atlantic City Expressway. The Garden State Parkway runs north-south down the east side of the state. Rt 287 is a huge ring road that connects to NY Rt 17 and the Thruway at the north end and the Holland Tunnel and the Garden State Parkway at the south end. It’s pretty much a third of a giant circle that encloses the super-suburban area, and the center of the circle is New York City. Boonton is just north of where Rt 80 hits Rt 287. So maybe you can get there from here, but you can’t get back.

Rescuing the rescuers. The Manville fire department had to rescue some National Guard troops when rising waters overtook their trucks. That is not a river they are in, it’s Main St. Manville is about 35 miles south of Boonton on Rt 287. Manville isn’t far from Boundbrook, an inauspiciously named town that always floods. I’m sure they’re underwater still. So many of the state’s most populated areas are right next to Raritan Bay, which had big-time storm surge. And that’s where many of the rivers and streams wind up. Heck, geologically the whole area is called the Newark Basin. Duh.

A huge source of pictures and stories on the NJ flood situation can be found here, with tons of links to more, like this photo page. As far as I know, there has only been one fatality so far, a first responder down in Princeton.

If you lived in Joisey, your feet would probably be wet right now.

I think I’ll try and take the back way and the high roads up to bowling tonight. The main road crosses several streams and rivers, including the Musconetcong. It may not yet be passable. Duh, maybe I should call first and see if the alley even has power.

Posted by Drew458     on 08/30/2011 at 02:01 PM   
Filed Under: • Climate-Weather •  
• Comments (2) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

DISCLAIMER

THE SERVICES AND MATERIALS ON THIS WEBSITE ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE HOSTS OF THIS SITE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ANY AND ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF SATISFACTORY QUALITY, MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, WITH RESPECT TO THE SERVICE OR ANY MATERIALS.

Not that very many people ever read this far down, but this blog was the creation of Allan Kelly and his friend Vilmar. Vilmar moved on to his own blog some time ago, and Allan ran this place alone until his sudden and unexpected death partway through 2006. We all miss him. A lot. Even though he is gone this site will always still be more than a little bit his. We who are left to carry on the BMEWS tradition owe him a great debt of gratitude, and we hope to be able to pay that back by following his last advice to us all:

1. Keep a firm grasp of Right and Wrong
2. Stay involved with government on every level and don't let those bastards get away with a thing
3. Use every legal means to defend yourself in the event of real internal trouble, and, most importantly:
4. Keep talking to each other, whether here or elsewhere

It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.

THE INFORMATION AND OTHER CONTENTS OF THIS WEBSITE ARE DESIGNED TO COMPLY WITH THE LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. THIS WEBSITE SHALL BE GOVERNED BY AND CONSTRUED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND ALL PARTIES IRREVOCABLY SUBMIT TO THE JURISDICTION OF THE AMERICAN COURTS. IF ANYTHING ON THIS WEBSITE IS CONSTRUED AS BEING CONTRARY TO THE LAWS APPLICABLE IN ANY OTHER COUNTRY, THEN THIS WEBSITE IS NOT INTENDED TO BE ACCESSED BY PERSONS FROM THAT COUNTRY AND ANY PERSONS WHO ARE SUBJECT TO SUCH LAWS SHALL NOT BE ENTITLED TO USE OUR SERVICES UNLESS THEY CAN SATISFY US THAT SUCH USE WOULD BE LAWFUL.

Copyright © 2004-2008 Domain Owner