West Virginia under water.

[Hicksville Hogwash]

West Virginia, is where I call home, last night a torrent came down. The little creek outside my home became a river. It spilled into the garden. My wife was saying "we need to get out of here", I'm thinking all those records need moving upstairs.

So wrong, I don't have much here these days but I really didn't need those things washing away. The rain stopped, the river... erm creek is down a little today and I can see the mess in the garden now. I'm no mountain man, get me outta here....

My wife's sister is still trapped in a carpark in a town that is under water.

That was scary. Down in the town, the real river, moved a few houses around.

Gotta love the insurance companies... you can't get flood insurance here!

 

[Hicksville Hogwash]

The Thrift Store is where I found my last great batch of Thrift Stores Treasures. There was more strange stuff on the lower shelves and I never looked at the LP's. I was planning on returning soon.

 

[greenfuzz]

<attachment> The Thrift Store is where I found my last great batch of Thrift Stores Treasures. There was more strange stuff on the lower shelves and I never looked at the LP's. I was planning on returning soon.

Best of luck to you and the entire area.

 

[mr. splendid]

Gotta love the insurance companies... you can't get flood insurance here!

They are money takers , not risk takers.........

 

[Outside_Lookin_in]

Sorry about your garden Hicksville, but happy your house and records were saved!

 

[chas_kit]

ow, sorry to read this

 

[axel]

Good luck! Hopefully everything will soon return back to normal.

 

[gregk25]

Unfortunately it won't, not for a couple of generations at least...

 

[bosshoss]

That looks bad. I hope things improve quickly especially for you and your wife Gavin. Meanwhile don't feed the alligators.

 

[Outside_Lookin_in]

I've just been hearing about this in the news: I understand gregk25's comment now. Some are calling it a 100 year flood, some, a 1000 year flood. First Texas, now West Virginia, and several other states flooded the last few years. Two weeks ago, Australia had flooding from a massive rain system that extended 2,500 km along the east coast with flooding in lots of places. Some houses were lost or compromised when up to 50 metres of beachfront were washed away on Sydney's shoreline. Some people say that the number or severity of natural disasters hasn't been increasing in recent years, but it just appears that way due to an increasing number of population centres, and better event coverage. I say they're wrong.

For those who want a snapshot of the West Virginia floods:
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2016/06/24/2-dead-floods-sweep-west-virginia/86329316/

 

[gregk25]

As much as environmentalists wish, there is no fixed causality between individual extrem weather events and climate change. What there is though are long term trends and numbers. Look at this chart from insurance giant Munich Re (there are v. similar numbers from state funded weather institutes if you're sceptical about corporate graphs): The increase of loss events is not steady, but it shows a clear trend - in spite of insurance companies finding loop holes to keep them from being held accountable.

 

[Outside_Lookin_in]

Interesting. The graph does show an upward trending wave pattern, but it would have been much more informative to plot a population growth line on top of it; that way you could see whether or not the trend was in line with population growth.

I'm not sure what people mean when they talk about climate change. Climate change is practically inevitable by virtue of its definition: the average weather patterns measured over a thirty year period. You would hardly expect one thirty year period to be identical to the next, especially when there are various celestial cycles which affect climate.

 

[Hicksville Hogwash]

It was a one night storm, I think the average rainfall for 2 months fell in 24hrs. There are, I'm sure many factors involved.

Mountain top removal causes valley to be filled in.
Man made rivers drainage off the tops of the flattened mountains.
Logging activities blocking off some smaller creeks.

I'll not get all eco-terrorist here too early but the sun is shining. My creek outside has made a little rock beach. We had cages full of rocks to protect the creek bank outside our house - must have weigh tons. Three got turned and ripped apart from the rest and has filled up behind it with rock and sand... a little beach

 

[gregk25]

Interesting. The graph does show an upward trending wave pattern, but it would have been much more informative to plot a population growth line on top of it; that way you could see whether or not the trend was in line with population growth.

That would only be useful, if the population growth was in line with the number of people / businesses insured, which I'd guess is hardly the case. With the majory of population growth coming from the poorer (=mostly uninsured) parts of the world and often from the parts most vulnerably to the effects of a changing climate, a curve looking at "social costs of extreme weather events" would look a lot different.

Glad you came out of this okay, Hicksville.

 

[Outside_Lookin_in]

A look at public infrastructure loss as a percentage of total infrastructure value would give a more reliable indicator; if anyone wanted to research it. But as Hicksville points out, the effects of extreme natural events can be amplified by man made environmental changes such as deforestation, mining, and water catchment modification; and that certainly does increase with population growth. An examination of historical meteorological reports is probably the best way to go.

 

[paul messis]

Gavin, glad you and Teresa are okay!!!!

Gavin, when the hell you gonna head back to UK for a vacation, would be good to hook up!!!

 

[Hicksville Hogwash]

Gavin, glad you and Teresa are okay!!!!

Gavin, when the hell you gonna head back to UK for a vacation, would be good to hook up!!!

Paul, our money is zero, I can't find a real job that pays well. But pound is falling fast, thanks to Brexiters, so I'm hoping a dollar will soon be worth a 100 of the Queenies Quids.

Queenie and the Worthless Quids. Sounds like a great band name.

 

[Frantic]

Brexit rules! God bless Great Britain.

 

[Hicksville Hogwash]

Brexit rules! God bless Great Britain.

I knew you'd be on that one.

I must admit flights to the UK are really cheap right now. The Pound has dropped and the poor Brexiters are all crying that their "holidays in the sun" are costing more and more.

 

[mr. splendid]

the poor Brexiters are all crying that their "holidays in the sun" are costing more and more.

on their way of becoming little britain......