Ugh.

[WilliamPitt]

Hundreds of residents evacuated as record rains drench New England

Hundreds of residents are being evacuated from their homes today in Fall River and Cranston, R.I., as record rainfall in southern New England pushes swollen streams past their limits, causing potentially dangerous flooding.

"We've had two 50-year storms in the course of two to three weeks,'' Governor Deval Patrick told reporters today at the state highway barn in Lexington, where the Massachusetts National Guard was filling sandbags to be used to ward off the water. "This is unheard of. This is a little different, a little bit more dangerous due to the saturation from the previous storm. This could cause floodwaters to rise very, very fast.''

Guardsmen have been deployed to Fall River where they are assisting in the evacuation of about 100 people and to Clinton where they are standing by in case the town needs to build sandbag walls near the Wachusett Reservoir and the Nashua River. Guardsmen overnight also delivered thousands of sandbags to other locations around eastern Massachusetts.

State officials said they are closely watching water levels in rivers, especially those in the Merrimack Valley, and water levels behind 39 dams across the state. The top priority for dam watchers is the troubled Forge Pond in Freetown, which was a focus of concern in another mammoth rainstorm earlier this month, said Rick Sullivan, head of the Department of Conservation and Recreation.

The rest: http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2010/03/guard_heading_t.html

[LeftyFingerPop]

1. I hit that shit on Long Island yesterday...

One of the worst rains I have seen.

edit grammar

[Heidi]

2. It makes smokin' out by the pumps a bitch, huh?

:(

[LeftyFingerPop]

4. You ain't a kiddin'...

I drove on the LIE, through QUEENS, over the Throgs neck Bridge...then got stuck for well over an hour on the Cross Bronx and the George Washington Bridge in that UNGODLY rain.

I drove on the lower level of the GWB, and water was just falling down from the upper level like someone was dumping it from 55 gallon drums onto your windshield...it was truly amazing.

By the way, did I mention I drove through QUEENS? :hug:

[rug]

5. I hoped you stopped for White Castle.

[LeftyFingerPop]

7. I almost stopped to see YOU...

I half thought about it, but I was tired and stressed...

I was thinking about you...when I was on Rt 80, I had to pull over again on the left to pee into a goddamn cup. WHY do they not have any rest stops on that thing???

I filled up a 20 ouncer!! :D

[Heidi]

10. My goodness, but you're a wuss.

NOBODY actually PULLS OVER to pee in a cup. Heck, I can whiz down the autobahn (so to speak) while addressing every urinary need, and I'm a CHICK.

Disappointed in you,

Heidi

[MiddleFingerMom]

13. I ALWAYS pull over to pee...

.
...because I NEVER remember to top off my windshield washer fluid.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Um... was this another one of my "too much information" moments?
.

[LeftyFingerPop]

16. You're right...

I should have steered with my teeth. :D

[rug]

12. Thank God for coffee cups!

[Heidi]

9. I just assumed that since you are the essence of QUEENS,

you must have at least driven INTO Queens to smoke. Cuz I'm logical like that. :D

P.S. * (Take THAT, ya big GALOOT!)

[MiddleFingerMom]

14. And, ugh is RIGHT, Lefty.

.
Cross-Bronx Expressway. I've driven the interstate loops around Indianapolis
and (much worse) D.C., and I've negotiated traffic circles in Europe and (MUCH
worse) New Jersey, but they're kiddie rides at the amusement park compared to
the X-Bronx.
.
DEEP, concrete canyons with (was it?) 8 lanes or more in each direction.
.
Only cars on the side of the road are stripped-down skeletal remains (I used
to fantasize that there were teams of car-strippers poised at the top of those
canyon walls, poised to rappel down and strip any car that was abandoned --
and I assumed NO car was ever "abandoned" for more than 5 minutes before it
was, ahem... "boned").
.
My girlfriend and I would make the drive from Philly to Connecticut and take
that route. We traveled in style, with stemmed glassware and a bottle or two
of wine in the cooler.
.
I would drink one glass BEFORE the X-Bronx in preparation... and TWO glasses
afterward in recuperation.
.

[LeftyFingerPop]

15. I hear ya, MiddleFingerMom...

I have also driven all over, and I take pride in my driving skills...but the Cross Bronx is truly a piece of shit, but a necessary evil I guess.

I don't think I've been trapped on it going into the city, but I have been trapped plenty of times coming out.... 5 hours once during a fucking heat wave and I was afraid to run my air conditioner for fear of the car over heating.

Yesterday, during the rain, I had semi trucks in the front, back, and either side of me and we were dead stopped. if you did happen to catch a glimpse of daylight, all you could see are those fucking walls with the graffiti covered buildings on top of them.

Yesterday, I was flashing on the number of people that must have full blown panic attacks when they are trapped like that.

[Heidi]

3. Haul ass on over here, Will, and bring that lovely bride of yours.

We're lookin' at sunny skies tomorrow, mid-60s. Y'all could walk across the border and bring me back some Parma, a couple of liters of tax-free Italian Chianti and some fresh gorganzola. And I'd cook for y'all, too. How's that? :hug:

[supernova]

6. Come on down to NC: Sun, Sun, and More SUN!!

B-) B-) B-)

Supposed to be 90!! by the weekend.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

8. ...

Stay safe, sweetie...

:hug:

[hedgehog]

11. Posted this before, but if you're looking for something to do inside

while it's pouring rain outside:

40 Signs of Rain

50 Degrees Below

60 Days and Counting

Kim Stanley Robinson

From Publishers Weekly
In this cerebral near-future novel, the first in a trilogy, Robinson (The Years of Rice and Salt) explores the events leading up to a worldwide catastrophe brought on by global warming. Each of his various viewpoint characters holds a small piece of the puzzle and can see calamity coming, but is helpless before the indifference of the politicians and capitalists who run America. Anna Quibler, a National Science Foundation official in Washington, D.C., sifts through dozens of funding proposals each day, while her husband, Charlie, handles life as a stay-at-home dad and telecommutes to his job as an environmental adviser to a liberal senator. Another scientist, Frank Vanderwal, finds his sterile worldview turned upside down after attending a lecture on Buddhist attitudes toward science given by the ambassador from Khembalung, a nation virtually inundated by the rising Indian Ocean. Robinson's tale lacks the drama and excitement of such other novels dealing with global climate change as Bruce Sterling's Heavy Weather and John Barnes's Mother of Storms, but his portrayal of how actual scientists would deal with this disaster-in-the-making is utterly convincing. Robinson clearly cares deeply about our planet's future, and he makes the reader care as well. FYI:Robinson's Mars trilogy (Red Mars, etc.) received one Nebula and two Hugo awards.

http://www.amazon.com/Forty-Signs-Rain-Stanley-Robinson/dp/0553585800