A Morning Without Rain

That's a good title for a book!

The rain has stopped. I woke up to cloudy skies and the phone ringing around 9 a.m. Immediately I stepped outside to see that the water has again receded back toward the drain but it is by no means gone. There is just too much water in the system for the drains to handle it quickly. All the water here empties into the Ohio River and it is out of its banks. Any drainage areas are already inundated and can't handle run off from the streets.

This is the major problem of building cities along river banks. Water doesn't soak into streets and drives. They acts as sluices and the water rushes along them to the lowest point. What you get is backed up drains.

About half the sewers in Evansville are over 100 yrs old. They've been doing major replacement for about 5 years but it is time consuming to dig up whole streets and lay new drain and put the streets back. Weinbach, one of the streets I have to come down to get to my house, was completely torn up for three years while they replaced the entire system beneath it. It was the biggest mess and a huge inconvenience. And the money for such projects has to be obtained from .... taxpayers.

We do have fewer problem in my neighborhood. This is the 4th time in 20 years I've seen water like this on my street. But the rain we have had this past few weeks exceeds the 1937 flood levels. Our levee held but the water simply backed up or over flowed in areas where there was no levee and spread out across the region and tri-state area. This is where the borders of Indiana, Illinois and Kentucky converge as well as the Wabash and Ohio Rivers, two major rivers. I suspect just slightly further downriver where the Missouri and Mississippi converge it is in a similar state so there is nowhere for the excess from the Ohio-Wabash to go but across land. Land that is already saturated by lots of rain. It is like pouring water over a full sponge.

I'm going to get dressed and see if I can get out of the area for a short time. I'm feeling house bound today. I want to see if I can escape. May take the camera with me if I do.Although, I suspect everyone is sick of the videos by now. And I look terrible! Must do the hair today.

I think I see a bit of watery sunshine! Oh... I do. Ta Ta For Now!