My city is famous right now because of flooding.
I live in Cranston, RI (inspired the fictitious Quohog in Family Guy).
The Pawtuxet River runs through it and into Narragansett Bay.
It's been raining this month and the river decided to go from something that no one ever notices into a monster that can swallow whole city blocks.
CRANSTON, R.I. - - Robin Schutt, director of administration in Cranston, said that the Pawtuxet River is about to crest at 21 feet.
Flood stage is nine feet.
The pumping station on Pontiac Avenue is under water. Officials are talking a look a businesses off Wellington Avenue that are under water. The Fire Department and building inspector are inspecting businesses where the electrical panels have been compromised by water.
Workers are now trying to secure a 25,000-pound container that's floating in the water in a parking lot off Wellington Avenue. "That’s 25,000 pounds. It’s floating. I can’t fathom what I’m looking at right now," Schutt said.
The flooding for the next hour or two will get worse. It will subside, Schutt said, but the water has nowhere to go.
http://www.projo.com/...
The folks in Cranston have been complaining for years now about a failing sewage and drainage systems. They are crumbling and were designed and built a century ago for a city that was much smaller than it is today.
I know that our city is not the only one in this nation having this issue. For too long now, our public infrastructure systems have been neglected and allowed to fall into disrepair.
The water-weary Northeast, particularly Rhode Island, braced for more misery Wednesday as it battled flooded roads and basements.
"We're just all ready to throw the keys on the counter and walk out of the houses," one Cranston, Rhode Island, resident said. "It's at that point now, you know?"
http://edition.cnn.com/...
CRANSTON, R.I. - Flooding across the Northeast forced hundreds of residents from their homes by Wednesday, knocked out sewage plants, and snarled traffic on major East Coast routes as roads transformed into a soaked labyrinth of detours and closures.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/...
Here is some local video...
http://www2.turnto10.com/...
Pictures....
http://www.abc6.com/...
PS - Is it me or are we are having these "100 year storms" every other year now?
From the comments (h/t rjnerd)...
Might actually be hitting the 500yr levels. A normal March in Boston, sees about 3.8" of rain. The record for the month used to be 11". As of this morning it now stands at 14.9", and a bit more rain was expected today.
I help out at a local technology museum Charles River Museum of Industry, which, since its home dates to the days of water power, is located next to the Charles River. Fifty feet downstream from the museum, is a measuring point for the river, that has been there since 1905. Two weeks ago, the river crested TWO FEET above the highest point previously recorded there.
For the first time ever the building flooded. The museums main floor had 10 inches of water covering it. While most of the artifacts emerged unharmed, the shop (a big part of the exhibit, re-creating a 19th century machine shop) had a lot of its tooling submerged.
Pro's took care of tearing out the carpeting, and removing the bottom 3 feet of the drywall, but its the volunteers who have the job of going thru all the tools and cleaning off the rust, applying preservative, etc.
http://www.dailykos.com/...
From the comments (h/t to Rejoinder)
I'm over in the East Bay but work down near Apponaug. Loved the extra hour commute today - got detoured down through Pawtuxet Village and the view from the bridge over the river there was just.. intimidating.
Anyways keeping with your theme here, I saw this fantastic PBS documentary on water infrastructure over the weekend and I think you'd be interested in checking it out.
Liquid Assets is a public media and outreach initiative that seeks to inform the nation about the critical role that our water infrastructure plays in protecting public health and promoting economic prosperity.
Combining a ninety-minute documentary with a community toolkit for facilitating local involvement, Liquid Assets explores the history, engineering, and political and economic challenges of our water infrastructure, and engages communities in local discussion about public water and wastewater issues.
http://liquidassets.psu.edu/
Flood Recovery Information for Homes and Businesses
Information on Federal Aid Programs for RI Disaster Recovery for individuals and businesses.
Frequently Asked Questions and "Best Practices" for homeowners and businesses in the aftermath of flooding.
Most up-to-date DOT map of road closures in Rhode Island.
Volunteers, Donations, Red Cross Shelters
How to volunteer or Donate to RI Red Cross 831-7700
Emergency Shelters
http://www.rifuture.org/...