I like to think of myself as a pillar of strength. Apparently, not so much.
Those of you in North America (according to Dr. Google, I apparently have fans in Europe and parts of Asia as well) may have been reading about the torrential rains in Southern California. Well, they were indeed torrential, even - or especially - here in the desert. Four inches of rain in a day in Vancouver is nothing. Our roads, bridges and gutters were built to handle it. (There was the leaky condo thing, where California style architecture was built in British Columbia. But we won't go there...)
Well, four inches of rain in Palm Springs is a 76 year record. The dry wash (or gully or arroyo) behind my house became a raging river....
Yes, that's water - raging water, 20 feet from my patio.
No, I did not panic. I called my neighbor with a truck, who said he would save room for me on the ark (my very low slung car would not make it out - the streets were already flooded by 8:00 A.M.), emptied the safe, and packed a bag.
And then sat and waited. You know, in recent years we have all read about fires and earthquakes and floods, and the resulting toll on the people affected. I really had no idea.
In the event, the rain eventually stopped, and the water never reached any higher than this before bedtime.
And by the next day...
Okay, different day, same problem. But even upside down you can see how much the water has gone down,
So, yet again, I am here to tell the tale. It sure did a number on my self image though. And it begs the question, how will I behave in a real emergency????
Those of you in North America (according to Dr. Google, I apparently have fans in Europe and parts of Asia as well) may have been reading about the torrential rains in Southern California. Well, they were indeed torrential, even - or especially - here in the desert. Four inches of rain in a day in Vancouver is nothing. Our roads, bridges and gutters were built to handle it. (There was the leaky condo thing, where California style architecture was built in British Columbia. But we won't go there...)
Well, four inches of rain in Palm Springs is a 76 year record. The dry wash (or gully or arroyo) behind my house became a raging river....
Yes, that's water - raging water, 20 feet from my patio.
No, I did not panic. I called my neighbor with a truck, who said he would save room for me on the ark (my very low slung car would not make it out - the streets were already flooded by 8:00 A.M.), emptied the safe, and packed a bag.
And then sat and waited. You know, in recent years we have all read about fires and earthquakes and floods, and the resulting toll on the people affected. I really had no idea.
In the event, the rain eventually stopped, and the water never reached any higher than this before bedtime.
And by the next day...
Okay, different day, same problem. But even upside down you can see how much the water has gone down,
So, yet again, I am here to tell the tale. It sure did a number on my self image though. And it begs the question, how will I behave in a real emergency????
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