After the flood ...
Friday, 21. March 2008, 22:29:10
(See photo album of the same name.)
It's been quite a year for residents of Findlay, Ohio, and not in a good way. The newspaper and radio say that we've had 10 official floods in the last 15 months (as in, since the start of 2007), and 5 in just the last 3 months, including 2 in the last week (one last Saturday from melting snow, and one yesterday from the torrential rains flooding the central US this week). Not that flooding is unusual in this area, but this has been excessive - two of those ten floods are among the ten worst on record for this area. The one last August is the second-worst flood recorded here, and one last month is fifth (see table on this page of "record crests").
I did mention "melting snow", we've also had a couple of blizzards and strangely enough are expecting more snow tonight.
But back to the subject at hand ... I guess it is understandable then that Noah's Ark features prominently in this year's annual Easter sand sculpture in Riverside Park. Never heard of it? We get tourists here every year who've read the book and come to see if it's real ... Yes, it is real, though other than the crucifix the details vary from year to year. (No, I haven't read the book, given that it's listed as "inspirational fiction" one must presume that the other events and characters described there are not all real ...)
What can I say, really? This year's sculpture reflects the hopes and yearnings of the entire town. Some people are ready to give up, for some reason they figure that after 150 years or so we should just let the river have the town back - okay, I can understand a certain amount of desperation after what we've been through, but in principle at least none of us should be alive the next time we have a year like this.
(For those interested, the local newspaper has up a stream of an interview with the artist, Roger Powell. It is an mms link, it should open in Windows Media Player. If you don't use Windows, try MPlayer or VLC.)
It's been quite a year for residents of Findlay, Ohio, and not in a good way. The newspaper and radio say that we've had 10 official floods in the last 15 months (as in, since the start of 2007), and 5 in just the last 3 months, including 2 in the last week (one last Saturday from melting snow, and one yesterday from the torrential rains flooding the central US this week). Not that flooding is unusual in this area, but this has been excessive - two of those ten floods are among the ten worst on record for this area. The one last August is the second-worst flood recorded here, and one last month is fifth (see table on this page of "record crests").
I did mention "melting snow", we've also had a couple of blizzards and strangely enough are expecting more snow tonight.
But back to the subject at hand ... I guess it is understandable then that Noah's Ark features prominently in this year's annual Easter sand sculpture in Riverside Park. Never heard of it? We get tourists here every year who've read the book and come to see if it's real ... Yes, it is real, though other than the crucifix the details vary from year to year. (No, I haven't read the book, given that it's listed as "inspirational fiction" one must presume that the other events and characters described there are not all real ...)
What can I say, really? This year's sculpture reflects the hopes and yearnings of the entire town. Some people are ready to give up, for some reason they figure that after 150 years or so we should just let the river have the town back - okay, I can understand a certain amount of desperation after what we've been through, but in principle at least none of us should be alive the next time we have a year like this.
(For those interested, the local newspaper has up a stream of an interview with the artist, Roger Powell. It is an mms link, it should open in Windows Media Player. If you don't use Windows, try MPlayer or VLC.)
By BAMAToNE, # 22. March 2008, 04:13:28