Large Scale Central

Trivia Question

General Discussion
#1

With all the news, both local and national about the flooding in the Carlye/St. Louis area, it is somewhat fun to study the “what If” theory.

For those that know St. Louis, what is the only road that you can “get out of town” on without crossing a river?

This was part of my job at Ralston, many years ago. I was part of a disaster recovery team and had to have plans in place to keep a World Corporation going even if the Headquarters was isolated or even gone. Always good to have a “what If” plan in your head and shared with your immediate family and friends. Its not a “dooms dayer” attitude, its a survivor attitude and being able to say “bring it on, is that your best shot”.

Back to the Trivia Question - Manchester Road or Highway 100 going west.

Yep, when the water gets high enough Carlyle becomes an island. Nice high/dry ground, but surrounded by lakes and swollen streams, creeks and rivers on all sides.

#2

In Ontario everyone is surrounded by rivers and lakes. From the air the whole province is nothing but rock, rivers, lakes, swamps and forests.

We have the “Mighty” Jock River one block north of us and the Rideau River a half mile east of us. Most of the year the Jock is a shallow creek and the Rideau a gentle tourist attraction and water playground. The only dangerous time of year is the spring when 12 feet of snow melt. The Rideau becomes a raging torrent with huge ice flows and the Jock a white water canoeing site. The Rideau will crawl up Doug’s lawn some springs. Anyone with a dock or boat in the water probably won’t find it in the spring.

I remember being invited to stay with friends of Ed and Diane and Mann in Selinsgrove, PA on one trip to the ECLSTS. When we got there we were told we would have to stay elsewhere as they were expecting to have their basement flooded and were moving stuff upstairs. I walked across the street and looked down about 25 feet at the Susie Q gently lapping at it banks. Within days their basement did flood. On the way home I realised why. Every river and stream in along Interstate 81 in Pennsylvania and New York State flows into it. In New York the water actually ran across the Interstate at one point. March is always an adventure when you are driving with white outs, ice storms, torrential rains, flooding. Even by plane you can stuck. We spent the night sleeping on the floor of the Miami Airport because of a snow storm in Toronto halted our return trip.

#3

Yea, we had the remains of Hurricane Ivan come through years ago, and it was a mess around here for days. That’s when I decided to build the water diverging system alongside our house. During heavy downpours, like Ivan, a stream forms up the street, and flows through the backyards going down to the other road. So I built a wall, and a 16 inch wide slab sidewalk. With the slope from the neighbor’s yard that forms a channel at least 2 foot wide, and well over 8 inches high to redirect the stream out to our front yard, where it can run down the front yard and into the street. I do not want water flowing into my laundry room again, like we had with Ivan. But, I do have to say, even with the water flowing into our laundry room, and from there it flowed into the dining room, our basement didn’t get flooded.

#4

Dang. Golding Road was NOT the correct answer.(http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-embarassed.gif)

#5

Talking about floods, and knowing that this part of Cambridgeshire has been known to get a mite damp, I looked around hard for for current house. I figured that living in a village that had Roman and even Bronze Age history, there were going to be places where the local creek/brook - the Emma - never reached. Strangely enough, all the expensive houses ran along the High Street - where the creek/brook also runs, and they were built up on the banks. This boy, being poor, couldn’t afford any of the million dollar homes there, but COULD afford the less salubrious dwellings built on what the 1768 map called The High Fields. The clue is in the name, folks. It’s 18 feet higher than the creek/brook would be it if IT went to 18 feet.

That’s where we went to live.

In 1998, the creek/brook went fourteen feet over the usual level - all of the posh houses got trashed, costing millions in repairs. We were high and dry. Cut off from the main road, sure, but dry.

tac

Ottawa Valley GRS

#6

Funny how humans seem to have lost the instinct to seek higher ground when purchasing a house. They seem to purchase for a view of the river, or creek, not ever thinking of flooding, but expect “The City/town/county” to bail them out when the water level dampens their enthusiasm for the view.

…almost like the same people purchase houses beside railroad tracks, and highways, then complain about the noise. The old “Not in my back yard” attitude prevails…and these people breed very prolifically…sadly…

#7

Fred Mills, BSc, BS, SD (Hons) said:

Funny how humans seem to have lost the instinct to seek higher ground when purchasing a house. They seem to purchase for a view of the river, or creek, not ever thinking of flooding, but expect …

Oh man, I used to live in Independence, Missouri, and just south of Independence Center Mall, at 291 and I70, in what is an obvious bowl of a flood plain, and I mean in your face obvious, on the Little Blue River, in the last few decades been built housing and retailing which pretty much fill the bowl to overflowing.
And people and businesses flocked in.
Whaaaaaaaaat???

A vertical view, but you can see the relationships https://www.google.com/maps/@39.0368408,-94.3578223,2520m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en

#8

Yup, Fred, the clue is often found in the name of the locale, street and so on, especially here in yUK where streets have been named since Roman times.

Here’s a few that kinda give the game away with regard to the likelihood of getting unwanted amounts of water in your life - usually at 2 a.m…

  1. The Water Meadows.

  2. Flood Street.

  3. Water Lane.

  4. Torrent Road.

  5. Pool/e Road.

  6. Orton Waterville.

  7. Orton Mere.

…all within a short walk of loose water in our local area…

tac

#9

tac Foley said:

Yup, Fred, the clue is often found in the name of the locale, street and so on, especially here in yUK where streets have been named since Roman times.

Here’s a few that kinda give the game away with regard to the likelihood of getting unwanted amounts of water in your life - usually at 2 a.m…

  1. The Water Meadows.

  2. Flood Street.

  3. Water Lane.

  4. Torrent Road.

  5. Pool/e Road.

  6. Orton Waterville.

  7. Orton Mere.

…all within a short walk of loose water in our local area…

tac

I once lived in a town, smack in the middle of dryland wheat farming, ironically named Waterville. It even had its own 4.5 mile common carrier railroad called the Waterville Railroad, to connect it with the Great Northern Ry Co at Douglas, WA. We had to drill more than 200 feet to find water. (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-laughing.gif)