May 13, 2019 at 4:55 p.m.
Weather is forcing a wait
As I See It
By Diana Dolecki-
When are you going to Texas to visit the kids? That is a question I have been asked recently. My reply is, Are you crazy? Have you seen the news lately?
Floods, hurricanes, wind, and anything else Mother Nature can think up have been outdoing themselves this year. No matter the weather, it seems to be more intense and unrelenting than usual.
The people we talk to in Texas tell of trees blown down across the roadway. My daughter, her husband, the people who live on down the street along with the neighbors across the street spent a few hours recently cutting up an oak tree late at night because when it fell, it completely blocked the road. Now Beth and her husband have their own tree to cut. A pine tree in their backyard fell on the barn. It picked a spot right in the middle because that is where it was the weakest. The barn is totaled. Thank goodness Beth let the horse out into the rest of the yard for the night. I am also thankful that this happened at midnight when all of the kids were safely asleep in their own beds.
I was surprised when I saw the pictures of the damage. I didn’t realize that the pine trees had such shallow roots. It is a miracle they didn’t all fall.
The amount of rain they have gotten in the past week is surprising. I have heard figures of 7 or 8 inches in the space of a few hours. One person reported they had a whopping 11 inches of rain in a 24 hour period. And we think we have it bad.
The two boys, Jacob and Nicholas, go to school a few minutes away. They got home from school after 6 p.m. one day. Their sister, Emma, rides a different bus and was home an hour or so late. The bus drivers had to find a way to avoid flooded roads. At one point they locked down the school because of a reported tornado that thankfully never materialized. The next day it was business as usual.
Beth had to take an alternate route to and from work because the exits she usually took were closed due to the flooding. So far the floods haven’t kept her at work for days at a time like last year.
The rainy season is not over. It would do no good to pack the car and head south if we were likely to run into torrential rain, a tornado or any other natural disaster that would cause us to regret having left home.
As much as we enjoy the grandchildren, it would not be prudent to visit them right now. I am hoping that the weather will give us a break and we can make the long trip before the summer is over.
As long as we insist on building our cities and towns near water we will continue to run into flooding. We seem to ignore the importance of keeping land undeveloped near water in order to create a buffer when the waterways run deep. Instead, we cover the land with concrete that will not drain, roads that always flood and homes built way too close to water.
The answer to the question of when we will visit the kids remains unknown. It will have to be after the weather settles down. Until then, we get to see them in pictures and talk on the phone. It is not the same as seeing them in person. But it will have to do for now.
Floods, hurricanes, wind, and anything else Mother Nature can think up have been outdoing themselves this year. No matter the weather, it seems to be more intense and unrelenting than usual.
The people we talk to in Texas tell of trees blown down across the roadway. My daughter, her husband, the people who live on down the street along with the neighbors across the street spent a few hours recently cutting up an oak tree late at night because when it fell, it completely blocked the road. Now Beth and her husband have their own tree to cut. A pine tree in their backyard fell on the barn. It picked a spot right in the middle because that is where it was the weakest. The barn is totaled. Thank goodness Beth let the horse out into the rest of the yard for the night. I am also thankful that this happened at midnight when all of the kids were safely asleep in their own beds.
I was surprised when I saw the pictures of the damage. I didn’t realize that the pine trees had such shallow roots. It is a miracle they didn’t all fall.
The amount of rain they have gotten in the past week is surprising. I have heard figures of 7 or 8 inches in the space of a few hours. One person reported they had a whopping 11 inches of rain in a 24 hour period. And we think we have it bad.
The two boys, Jacob and Nicholas, go to school a few minutes away. They got home from school after 6 p.m. one day. Their sister, Emma, rides a different bus and was home an hour or so late. The bus drivers had to find a way to avoid flooded roads. At one point they locked down the school because of a reported tornado that thankfully never materialized. The next day it was business as usual.
Beth had to take an alternate route to and from work because the exits she usually took were closed due to the flooding. So far the floods haven’t kept her at work for days at a time like last year.
The rainy season is not over. It would do no good to pack the car and head south if we were likely to run into torrential rain, a tornado or any other natural disaster that would cause us to regret having left home.
As much as we enjoy the grandchildren, it would not be prudent to visit them right now. I am hoping that the weather will give us a break and we can make the long trip before the summer is over.
As long as we insist on building our cities and towns near water we will continue to run into flooding. We seem to ignore the importance of keeping land undeveloped near water in order to create a buffer when the waterways run deep. Instead, we cover the land with concrete that will not drain, roads that always flood and homes built way too close to water.
The answer to the question of when we will visit the kids remains unknown. It will have to be after the weather settles down. Until then, we get to see them in pictures and talk on the phone. It is not the same as seeing them in person. But it will have to do for now.
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