There is no other way to describe what the State of Delaware has endured the past few days.
There are three counties in this state: New Castle (upstate towards Philadelphia), Kent and then Sussex County where the great beaches like Rehoboth, Dewey, Lewes and Henolopen are located. Sussex county had 8 inches of rain in one day. All told, the county has seen over a foot of the soggy mess with people getting caught in the floods while out shopping. In Seaford, Delaware it was necessary to rescue people from the WalMart. The parking lot turned into a river in a flash flood.
In several areas near where I live there are places with two feet of standing water. And there are idiots who insist on trying to drive through it. I had to love it when some guy in his Humvee tried to navigate the water and his vehicle wound up floating instead. Had to be rescued, he did. Bet he feels stupid now. The forecast for today predicts yet more rain for this afternoon and evening and some for tomorrow.
We needed the rain - but not the whole season's worth in one shot.
Delaware took a beating during Hurricane Isabelle a few summers ago flooding out entire communities to the point where the houses were condemned. A tornado was spawned alongside I-95 as the afternoon rush hour commuters stopped their cars dead on the highway, gaping in amazement at the twister. This wasn't the weather channel! It was the real thing! Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed and people did eventually start driving, fleeing from the tornado as opposed to looking at it.
If Delaware takes a direct hit from a hurricane we stand to be in the same position as those in New Orleans. It would take 48 hours to evacuate everyone from Sussex and even Kent County. There is only one main highway through the state Route 1 and then Routes 13 and 113 which go through cities and towns. There are so many people who live in rural areas and near the various beaches and bodies of water it would take time for them to be able to get out. Unfortunately, there is also a larger and larger population in these spots so that means more people who would have to get out. It would not be pretty and I pray that day never comes. It's bad enough whenever we get the powerful remains of a storm and the beach front erodes and the board walk gets broken up from the wind and raging ocean.
And now I see from the cafe where I type this (yes, Delaware has cafes) the wind is kicking up and the skies are getting dark - this at 1:30 p.m.
I had plans to go to Philly tonight but it ain't happening. While the City of Brotherly Love has pretty much seen the end of the rain, we haven't. I do not want to drive back into Delaware after or during another deluge. I have a sinking feeling (no pun intended) that I am not going to get up there in time to see the Andrew Wyeth Restrospective at the art museum. He is one of my favorite artists and a local as well. Seems like everything keeps getting in the way.
I did blog over the weekend but I do not see my precious posts. I did this in between thunder and electrical storms so maybe it all went bye- bye in the electric-charged air.
So I shall repost! I can't deny my legion of readers now can I?
1 comment:
Andrew Wyeth... I don't know. His paintings are almost like photographs, and I wonder... why a painting if a photograph will do? I have some prints I've collected which are like photographs, very precise in their making, but I guess my real preference is for contemporary art. I do like Jackson Pollack, for example, but some would say that anyone could do what he does. Sure, anyone could do it, but it would just be paint on paper - but when Pollack does it, it's art because of the meaning behind it. I know Woody Allen said once that Picasso could draw a rabbit and a kid could draw something similar, but to Allen, the art is "in the lines" which only Picasso can draw. To me, I enjoy art which is modern, but I don't think necessarily has to be perfect in its representation. I don't know the first thing about Wyeth, so perhaps I am misunderstanding his work, but if his attempt is to be as realistic as possible, then to me it's not that interesting.
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