Thursday, November 01, 2007

Random thoughts on rain to the south

Well, I made it safely to the Bolt Hole and I must say the new truck handles beautifully. Highway travel was a breeze and even the back roads I had to take the last 15 miles or so were a joy to ride on. (Of course that may have to do with the off-road package the Tundra is equipped with, but quite comfortable anyway.)

I had to stop at a rest area along the NY Thruway for food and gas and while I was seated in the dining area I watched a bit of Fox News. There were two stories they were hitting on while I was there and I was taken by the juxtapositioning of them. (I think I just made up a verb.)

The first story was all about Tropical Storm Noel and the damage its rains did to some of the Caribbean islands. Twenty or thirty inches of rain falling on these islands made for some incredible flooding. Along with the rains, damaging winds and waves hit the islands hard. Of course, of interest to US residents was the possibility that it could reach the Florida mainland. The reports were that it was veering to the north-northeast and so would skirt the US coastline by a large distance. Still, some wave action near the southeast corner of Florida was filmed and the reporter was all agog about the erosion of the beach. He also mentioned that some rain would be blown ashore from the storm.

Immediately following this report of a near miss by Noel, came a report out of Atlanta about the severe drought the southeast is suffering. Alabama, Georgia and a couple of other states are arguing over water being released from a Corps of Engineer’s reservoir in Georgia and they have gone to court to get relief.

I couldn’t help but think of how badly they need water and there it was heading out to sea in the form of TS Noel. Of course, 10 or 20 inches of rain in one fell swoop would do an awful lot of damage even in a parched countryside such as the southeast but it would go a long way to filling up the reservoirs in that neck of the woods.

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