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ninanevermoreToday on my drive into work, I was thinking about yesterday's drive into work, all .3 miles of it that I made. It rained a little bit in the Houston area yesterday. According to the newspaper, it rained 10.71 inches in my area alone. Still, being a dedicated employee and (mostly) because I missed work on Friday because my son's daycare called to let me know he was sick (leaving work early on a Friday for a "sick child" and then wimping out on Monday for a little inclement weather makes me look like a super slacker), I decided to at least try.
I didn't even make it half a mile. My husband is in love with country living, so we live out in the country. In an urban area, most neighborhoods have more than one road leading in and out of them. For a rural subdivision off of a state highway, I guess I should feel lucky that the road leading out of my subdivision is at least paved.
There is a creek that runs through the middle of my subdivision. Somebody thought it would be a nice idea to dam the creek up so that it makes a wide, lake-like area adjacent to the neighborhood park. Normally, the bridge across the creek looks like this:
Yesterday morning, however, it looked like this:
I sat parked in the middle of the road, staring at the water rushing over it for a few minutes. High water is hard to gage just by looking at it. It's better to have someone in front of you brave the depths; if their car goes completely under, then you know that it isn't safe and you take another route. But I was the only one on the road.
I opened my door and saw that the water was about 4 inches lower than the door to my Elantra where I was parked at the edge of the torrents. I wasn't worried about the car getting submerged here (according to the morning paper, 4 people died in Houston from just that very thing yesterday), but more about it stalling out and me having to walk back home in the pouring rain with a wet, screaming toddler in my arms. Then there would be explaining to the insurance company what happened. I turned around and drove around the subdivision a bit to contemplate my options..
After a block or so, I spied an SUV pulling out of a driveway. Perfect. This car was 6 inches higher off of the ground than my car and had 4-wheel drive to get them out of any trouble. I would see how high the water came up on it and made a more-educated decision on my own odds of making it across. I followed the SUV toward the creek. The SUV didn't even drive as far into the water as I did. They stopped, turned around, and went home. I admitted defeat and followed suit.
Frankly, I think the SUV could have made it. But up the road another half mile there is a low point where, Jeff pointed out later, the water can get up to 3 or 4 feet high. Even if they (and I) had made it across the first flooded section, we would have had to turn back when we reached that portion of road.
As a result I got to enjoy an extra day off in addition to my weekend. Not that I could spend much of it on line. When I returned to my house, the electricity was off, and it would continue to cycle off and on for the rest of the day. Still, the quite time and quality time with my son was kind of nice. I got some projects accomplished around the house, and got to spend some time with Jeff (he has Mondays off). By the late afternoon, the rain had slowed down and the power came on and stayed on.
In the end, it was a great day for learning. Besides learning that I actually do have enough sense not to drive across a flooded road (but no so much sense that I won't at least consider it), I learned that a 5-inch rain gage isn't made to measure an entire 5 inches. After about 4 3/4 inches, every drop that falls in makes another drop of water jump back out (you can see this happening in the photo of my rain gage below). I'm thinking that for the Texas Gulf Coast, I need a rain gage that can measure at least a foot of rain. After all, we get hurricanes here, and 5 inches of rain isn't didly squat when it comes to a hurricane. Ask all of the former New Orleans residents now living here if that's not the case.
It never rains more that 4.75 inches in my yard
They say that everything is bigger in Texas; and I need a rain gage to reflect this attitude. I guess I’ll be searching or a real rain gage to replace the cutesy little useless thing that I have. What can I say? My husband bought this thing. I would have bought one less, you know, girly.
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I didn't even make it half a mile. My husband is in love with country living, so we live out in the country. In an urban area, most neighborhoods have more than one road leading in and out of them. For a rural subdivision off of a state highway, I guess I should feel lucky that the road leading out of my subdivision is at least paved.
There is a creek that runs through the middle of my subdivision. Somebody thought it would be a nice idea to dam the creek up so that it makes a wide, lake-like area adjacent to the neighborhood park. Normally, the bridge across the creek looks like this:
Yesterday morning, however, it looked like this:
I sat parked in the middle of the road, staring at the water rushing over it for a few minutes. High water is hard to gage just by looking at it. It's better to have someone in front of you brave the depths; if their car goes completely under, then you know that it isn't safe and you take another route. But I was the only one on the road.
I opened my door and saw that the water was about 4 inches lower than the door to my Elantra where I was parked at the edge of the torrents. I wasn't worried about the car getting submerged here (according to the morning paper, 4 people died in Houston from just that very thing yesterday), but more about it stalling out and me having to walk back home in the pouring rain with a wet, screaming toddler in my arms. Then there would be explaining to the insurance company what happened. I turned around and drove around the subdivision a bit to contemplate my options..
After a block or so, I spied an SUV pulling out of a driveway. Perfect. This car was 6 inches higher off of the ground than my car and had 4-wheel drive to get them out of any trouble. I would see how high the water came up on it and made a more-educated decision on my own odds of making it across. I followed the SUV toward the creek. The SUV didn't even drive as far into the water as I did. They stopped, turned around, and went home. I admitted defeat and followed suit.
Frankly, I think the SUV could have made it. But up the road another half mile there is a low point where, Jeff pointed out later, the water can get up to 3 or 4 feet high. Even if they (and I) had made it across the first flooded section, we would have had to turn back when we reached that portion of road.
As a result I got to enjoy an extra day off in addition to my weekend. Not that I could spend much of it on line. When I returned to my house, the electricity was off, and it would continue to cycle off and on for the rest of the day. Still, the quite time and quality time with my son was kind of nice. I got some projects accomplished around the house, and got to spend some time with Jeff (he has Mondays off). By the late afternoon, the rain had slowed down and the power came on and stayed on.
In the end, it was a great day for learning. Besides learning that I actually do have enough sense not to drive across a flooded road (but no so much sense that I won't at least consider it), I learned that a 5-inch rain gage isn't made to measure an entire 5 inches. After about 4 3/4 inches, every drop that falls in makes another drop of water jump back out (you can see this happening in the photo of my rain gage below). I'm thinking that for the Texas Gulf Coast, I need a rain gage that can measure at least a foot of rain. After all, we get hurricanes here, and 5 inches of rain isn't didly squat when it comes to a hurricane. Ask all of the former New Orleans residents now living here if that's not the case.
They say that everything is bigger in Texas; and I need a rain gage to reflect this attitude. I guess I’ll be searching or a real rain gage to replace the cutesy little useless thing that I have. What can I say? My husband bought this thing. I would have bought one less, you know, girly.
