Crazy

It turns out that 9 inches of heavy rain in 24 hours will turn even a city built on a steep hill into a flooded mess.  It didn’t help that we had several inches of rain the day before the nine inches, either.  I don’t have dramatic photographs of all the raving streams that washed over bridges and cut roads into pieces and wiped out retaining walls and undercut buildings. Huge swaths of the big box “retail” district looked like a lake.  People were kayaking down streets. I won’t even tell you the story about the flooded zoo and the escaped and drowned animals.  If you are up for some interesting reading, though, you can check out the Duluth News Tribune and Minnesota Public Radio where you can also view some amazingly dramatic photographs.  Frankly, I stayed put all day long, because it would be just like me to be one of those people who ended up driving right into a sink hole.  That’s just the kind of driver I am.

In the late afternoon, after the rain died down and quite a bit of the torrential water was receding, except for the actual creeks and streams, which were raging bodies of water still, the youngest three kidlets and I went for a little walk in our neighborhood to check out the damage.  While none of the sights we took in were unique in comparison to what is happening all over the city, they still filled us with an awestruck, morbid fascination.  It was hard to stop looking at the amazing damage, but you felt a little guilty not being able to tear your eyes away because it was really terrible, and yet so fascinating what rapidly moving torrential water can do as it races down a steep hill.

This is the paved part of the hiking trail we usually take to walk to the kidlets’ elementary school:

And this is actually my street, but a few sections down, about halfway down the big hill, kind of close to where the trail to the school is.  The grade is steep in this area, although not so much on this street, and a bunch of water came rushing down from above and undercut the street, causing it to sink about four feet down from where it used to be, and buckle and heave.  It looked like an earthquake had struck.

Really, there is no way a picture can do the damage justice.  It was a good day to live at near the top of the hill, and I’m thankful that our storm drain on my corner didn’t clog, even though it was working hard.  Have I mentioned that I love my sturdy sump pump, which has kept my basement completely dry and has been working overtime for days?