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On Various Types of Surge
Oct. 10th, 2024 10:42 amThe hurricane spared Tampa.
It hit Sarasota and St. Petersburg instead. But by that time, it was down to a Category 3. Category 3 is… manageable.
Sarasota and St. Petersburg are much nicer cities than Tampa Bay, but much less densely populated. So, the change in direction is good from a sparing-human-life perspective though bad from a that-beautiful-building! perspective.
The trajectory of the hurricane will now take it straight out into the Atlantic Ocean, so the quaint & scenic Hudson Valley will not know its weakening wrath.
###
The Hudson Valley does get hit hard by hurricanes every now & then. This part of New York is on a number of different watersheds—Delaware, Chesapeake, Ontario—and when flood surge travels up a watershed, havoc ensues. In 1972, Hurricane Agnes literally took out the once lovely city of Elmira, such that if you drive through it today, you’ll wonder why it’s allowed to desecrate your map. In 2011, Hurricane Irene destroyed the picturesque village of Schoharie and many of the surrounding hamlets in the Schoharie Valley.
I vividly remember sitting upstairs in my bedroom in the Long Island house I was living in my first year out of Ithaca—Ganeshopolis, BB dubbed the community, for the number of Indian residents who decorated the outside of their homes with enormous concrete elephants—and watching a tree crash down on the house during Hurricane Sandy.
At first, I could not figure out what was happening.
Why the tree seemed to be getting larger & larger & larger.
Took me a couple of seconds to realize, That’s because the tree is getting closer & closer & closer.
Time had begun the subjective slowdown time always seems to acquire in moments of physical peril.
Fortunately, the tree missed the house (and me) when it toppled over, because I was so mesmerized by the sight, I didn’t have the sense to get up & run out of potential harm’s way.
###
In the midst of that storm, the Meezer decided she wanted to do a walkabout & slipped out the front door.
I ran out after her.
I have never experienced a wind like that before or afterwards.
It wanted to suck me up, deposit me who knows where.
I felt as though I could easily have died for the minute or so I was out in that wind.
###
In other news, went canvassing with Adrienne yesterday in the hamlet of Wallkill.
We saw this:
Kinda rises to the level of folk art, no? (I kinda ❤️LUV❤️ the way that No Trespassing sign is tacked in there!) I will say that on the whole, the Trump signs are a lot more creative than the Harris signs. Possibly that’s because the Trump campaign is too broke to print up signs, so Trump accolytes are forced to improvise.
Despite the Trump sign, we had a lot of positive responses in the houses we hit, a lot of people congratulating us on our valor and casting covert glances at their neighbors—I never realized how much I hate my neighbor before!
It hit Sarasota and St. Petersburg instead. But by that time, it was down to a Category 3. Category 3 is… manageable.
Sarasota and St. Petersburg are much nicer cities than Tampa Bay, but much less densely populated. So, the change in direction is good from a sparing-human-life perspective though bad from a that-beautiful-building! perspective.
The trajectory of the hurricane will now take it straight out into the Atlantic Ocean, so the quaint & scenic Hudson Valley will not know its weakening wrath.
###
The Hudson Valley does get hit hard by hurricanes every now & then. This part of New York is on a number of different watersheds—Delaware, Chesapeake, Ontario—and when flood surge travels up a watershed, havoc ensues. In 1972, Hurricane Agnes literally took out the once lovely city of Elmira, such that if you drive through it today, you’ll wonder why it’s allowed to desecrate your map. In 2011, Hurricane Irene destroyed the picturesque village of Schoharie and many of the surrounding hamlets in the Schoharie Valley.
I vividly remember sitting upstairs in my bedroom in the Long Island house I was living in my first year out of Ithaca—Ganeshopolis, BB dubbed the community, for the number of Indian residents who decorated the outside of their homes with enormous concrete elephants—and watching a tree crash down on the house during Hurricane Sandy.
At first, I could not figure out what was happening.
Why the tree seemed to be getting larger & larger & larger.
Took me a couple of seconds to realize, That’s because the tree is getting closer & closer & closer.
Time had begun the subjective slowdown time always seems to acquire in moments of physical peril.
Fortunately, the tree missed the house (and me) when it toppled over, because I was so mesmerized by the sight, I didn’t have the sense to get up & run out of potential harm’s way.
###
In the midst of that storm, the Meezer decided she wanted to do a walkabout & slipped out the front door.
I ran out after her.
I have never experienced a wind like that before or afterwards.
It wanted to suck me up, deposit me who knows where.
I felt as though I could easily have died for the minute or so I was out in that wind.
###
In other news, went canvassing with Adrienne yesterday in the hamlet of Wallkill.
We saw this:
Kinda rises to the level of folk art, no? (I kinda ❤️LUV❤️ the way that No Trespassing sign is tacked in there!) I will say that on the whole, the Trump signs are a lot more creative than the Harris signs. Possibly that’s because the Trump campaign is too broke to print up signs, so Trump accolytes are forced to improvise.
Despite the Trump sign, we had a lot of positive responses in the houses we hit, a lot of people congratulating us on our valor and casting covert glances at their neighbors—I never realized how much I hate my neighbor before!
