Flood watch....

Much of the great State O' Maine lies under a flood watch for today, with the remnants of Katrina wending down the St. Lawrence to the sea. In non-hurricane related weather, Patten (up in the heart of the Great North Woods) recorded eight or nine inches of rain overnight yesterday, washing out roads and such and setting the stage for today's rain with full streams and saturated ground....

In my own mundane way, I responded to this by taking the front wheel of my bike over to the shop to get respoked. Replaced one spoke earlier this season, broke another yesterday, regard this as a Sign on the subject of metal fatigue and the abusive Maine roads. Won't be needing the bike for a day or so, anyway.

Outsiders are now griping about the lack of transport for evacuating non-car (read "poor" or "black") people from New Orleans. Sorry to disappoint you folks, but long-distance mass transit does not exist in this country. There ain't enough Greyhound buses and Amtrak rail cars to haul tens of thousands of bodies outta town in the space of one day, and buses would have needed the same roads as all those bumper-to-bumper cars. See previous post about emergency planning...

And I'm waiting for the cases of typhoid to start showing up. That water folks are wading through? It's raw sewage and chemical waste, people.

With regard to looting....

Every bit of food in the flooding area, including stuff in waterproof packaging (like cans of soda) is probably condemned by the Health Department -- landfill fodder. That's the law in Maine, at least. And that sixpack of Bud or Pepsi may be the only safe drinking water in several miles.

Even TV sets and computers are hazardous waste once the water hits them.

Wrath of God

I'm waiting for Pat Robertson or suitable clone to declare that the hurricane was God's judgement on the wicked, wicked city.