Around the Second Bend in the Road

Hello Everyone!

We had rain Monday.  Not the gentle rains that slowly permeate the ground and nourish the grass, trees and flowers of spring, but the frog-strangling, gully-washing, can’t-see-in-front-of-you-to-drive type of rain.  And we had it for about six hours.  The combination of downpour and time led to a flood of water puddling on lawns, streaming down roads, carving mini-canyons in local gullies and other such stuff.  Water even got into our sunroom from somewhere – we’re not sure whether it came in from the puddle gathering at the back door or from the back wall – but fortunately it wasn’t very deep.

Heavy Rain
Photo Credit: http://www.clickartonline.com

Our first hint of the most dramatic consequence of the rain came when I left the house for work in the rain about 8:00 a.m. and saw the “Road Closed” sign on the left side of our neighborhood entrance.  I didn’t think much about it; I just figured a section of road had flooded over and it was closed until the waters could recede.  When I came home at lunch and the sign was still there, I became a little curious and called the police department.  It turned out that a section of road over a culvert had been washed away.

One View of the Washed Out Culvert

We found out later that the white pipe in the picture is a water main that also broke, leaving folks on the other side of the break without water for two hours.  That didn’t sound too bad either, but since the “Road Closed” sign was still up, Kayla and I parked the car at the entrance to the neighborhood and walked down the road a ways.  After two houses and two bends in the road, we came across the washed out culvert.

It was a big deal.

Deep view of washout

It also apparently became a neighborhood novelty.  In addition to the small crowd on the other side of the break (we waved at each other and shouted messages of good will across the gap), a regular stream of people showed up between 5:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. to view the EVENT.

Width and Depth View of Washout

No-one in the town is more grateful for the timing of the wash-out than our family – we can time the washout to somewhere between 5:35 a.m. and 8:00 a.m.  Why?  Mark drove over that very spot at 5:35 a.m. on his way to work.

Have a great day!

Nancy