12voltman59
Mar 11, 2011, 10:13 AM
While it may not be a major disaster on the order of the earthquake that hit Japan in recent hours---in my neck of the woods we are seeing the Ohio River, along with its tributaries, rising to flood levels and beyond.
At present---at Cincinnati the river is forecast to rise to 57 feet in the coming days---flood stage is 52 feet. This level is just seven feet shy of a relatively recent flood back in 1997 that was one of the top four or five floods along the river in modern history--then the river rose to 64 feet.
The thing is with what is going on now---we are just now beginning to enter the spring rainy season and with the river already this high----I would bet we could see the waters go higher.
At least with something like this---the troubles it raises is sort of a slow moving one and its scope on the one hand is rather limited to those who live close to the big river and those waterways that flow into it.
People who live or have businesses close to the areas that are going to flood are packing up their belongings and moving them to higher ground.
Cities are installing flood gates in the gaps in their levy systems.
River traffic consisting of barge traffic is now shutting down due to the high water since the boats cannot make it under the bridges now, they are having a hard time making it up river and its dangerous to go downriver since the river flow just takes the boat and throws it around and the Army Corp of Engineers are starting to simply open the sluce gates and lock doors to let the water flow on through the locks and dams to minimize damage to the structures making them too unsafe to navigate those huge boats near.
Here are some photos I took yesterday of the flooding in the Cincinnati area---they look kind of dark---even though it was midday and I had my camera set to operate in the minimal light---they only came out so good considering the weather conditions.
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r216/mpgarr/Week2ofthespring2011flood016.jpg
When the river is in its banks--this is a major soccer field area where kids leagues play and a semi-pro team plays its matches during the summer.
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r216/mpgarr/Week2ofthespring2011flood017.jpg
Looking towards the marina where the boat is docked---the edge of the river normally is basically where you see the trees--the area under those ramps is usually the parking area.
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r216/mpgarr/Week2ofthespring2011flood024.jpg
This is around my marina--that building up top the levy is a bar and also is where the marina pool is located--the parking area is buried in the water you see--the water is now up about halfway on the levy.
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r216/mpgarr/Week2ofthespring2011flood034.jpg
This is just a few hundred yards away from the picture above this one----at this point--the water is at the top of the levy---in normal times you would be looking at a road that goes down to a boat ramp--down maybe 300 or four hundred feet forward and down about 30 feet.
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r216/mpgarr/Week2ofthespring2011flood045.jpg
This is a street that leads to a public park, this time holding a number of baseball/softball fields and a public boat ramp--the river is normally out past that line of trees you see in the far distance--and then its down 15 or 20 feet from the top of parking lot down to the river.
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r216/mpgarr/Week2ofthespring2011flood048.jpg
This bench normally has a view out and down to the river--the river being several hundred feet away and down 30 or 40 feet. When I was there--a local TV news crew was there videoing too and this morning--they showed a shot of the bench from yesterday and did a live shot from the same place--the bench is underwater and the parking lot---behind a gorgeous church has water up in it 50 to a 100 feet further up than it was just less than 24 hours ago.
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r216/mpgarr/Week2ofthespring2011flood061.jpg
It is kind of hard to tell, but there are actually two big tow boats working together to push this barge loaded with coal upriver--they were both at full throttle with those boats producing something like 40 or 50,000 worth of horsepower between them and they still were barely able to make way against the current!
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r216/mpgarr/Week2ofthespring2011flood069.jpg
Just a view downriver towards downtown Cincinnati with the river running high and nasty!!
Other than some people having their homes, schools, churches and businesses flooding--if the river stays closed to commercial river traffic for very long--it could have a big effect on people in that with all the power plants along the river that use coal for fuel and the barges being the major way that the coal is shipped to them---it could mean a shortage of coal to fire those plants if this goes on too long and the same thing for supplies of gasoline and other goods--there are a number of major facilities along the river where they bring in gas and oil products by the barges---this flooding could sure hit us in the pocketbook---just what the heck we need these days!!
At present---at Cincinnati the river is forecast to rise to 57 feet in the coming days---flood stage is 52 feet. This level is just seven feet shy of a relatively recent flood back in 1997 that was one of the top four or five floods along the river in modern history--then the river rose to 64 feet.
The thing is with what is going on now---we are just now beginning to enter the spring rainy season and with the river already this high----I would bet we could see the waters go higher.
At least with something like this---the troubles it raises is sort of a slow moving one and its scope on the one hand is rather limited to those who live close to the big river and those waterways that flow into it.
People who live or have businesses close to the areas that are going to flood are packing up their belongings and moving them to higher ground.
Cities are installing flood gates in the gaps in their levy systems.
River traffic consisting of barge traffic is now shutting down due to the high water since the boats cannot make it under the bridges now, they are having a hard time making it up river and its dangerous to go downriver since the river flow just takes the boat and throws it around and the Army Corp of Engineers are starting to simply open the sluce gates and lock doors to let the water flow on through the locks and dams to minimize damage to the structures making them too unsafe to navigate those huge boats near.
Here are some photos I took yesterday of the flooding in the Cincinnati area---they look kind of dark---even though it was midday and I had my camera set to operate in the minimal light---they only came out so good considering the weather conditions.
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r216/mpgarr/Week2ofthespring2011flood016.jpg
When the river is in its banks--this is a major soccer field area where kids leagues play and a semi-pro team plays its matches during the summer.
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r216/mpgarr/Week2ofthespring2011flood017.jpg
Looking towards the marina where the boat is docked---the edge of the river normally is basically where you see the trees--the area under those ramps is usually the parking area.
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r216/mpgarr/Week2ofthespring2011flood024.jpg
This is around my marina--that building up top the levy is a bar and also is where the marina pool is located--the parking area is buried in the water you see--the water is now up about halfway on the levy.
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r216/mpgarr/Week2ofthespring2011flood034.jpg
This is just a few hundred yards away from the picture above this one----at this point--the water is at the top of the levy---in normal times you would be looking at a road that goes down to a boat ramp--down maybe 300 or four hundred feet forward and down about 30 feet.
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r216/mpgarr/Week2ofthespring2011flood045.jpg
This is a street that leads to a public park, this time holding a number of baseball/softball fields and a public boat ramp--the river is normally out past that line of trees you see in the far distance--and then its down 15 or 20 feet from the top of parking lot down to the river.
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r216/mpgarr/Week2ofthespring2011flood048.jpg
This bench normally has a view out and down to the river--the river being several hundred feet away and down 30 or 40 feet. When I was there--a local TV news crew was there videoing too and this morning--they showed a shot of the bench from yesterday and did a live shot from the same place--the bench is underwater and the parking lot---behind a gorgeous church has water up in it 50 to a 100 feet further up than it was just less than 24 hours ago.
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r216/mpgarr/Week2ofthespring2011flood061.jpg
It is kind of hard to tell, but there are actually two big tow boats working together to push this barge loaded with coal upriver--they were both at full throttle with those boats producing something like 40 or 50,000 worth of horsepower between them and they still were barely able to make way against the current!
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r216/mpgarr/Week2ofthespring2011flood069.jpg
Just a view downriver towards downtown Cincinnati with the river running high and nasty!!
Other than some people having their homes, schools, churches and businesses flooding--if the river stays closed to commercial river traffic for very long--it could have a big effect on people in that with all the power plants along the river that use coal for fuel and the barges being the major way that the coal is shipped to them---it could mean a shortage of coal to fire those plants if this goes on too long and the same thing for supplies of gasoline and other goods--there are a number of major facilities along the river where they bring in gas and oil products by the barges---this flooding could sure hit us in the pocketbook---just what the heck we need these days!!