Hi!

After seeing the scattered pictures of flooding and devastation from Floyd, and especially after Rick confessed that he lived so close to the river - I was just wondering how everyone was doing. So, how are you all?

Terri Reid

-- Anonymous, September 20, 1999

Answers

Water, water everywhere, and not a drop to drink.

My basement flooded, but that was it - and only because my sump pump died about 2 hours into the storm. Fortunately, I had a portable pump out in my shed, and when I realized the big pump had quit, I ran out to the shed to get it and hooked it up very quickly. While it didn't keep all of the water out, it was enough to keep the water at least at a level below the water heater and furnace. Quite a few other folks were not as fortunate.

One of the www developers that I work with lives around Princeton, NJ. His water company is still out of service, after 5 days. The water treatment plant flooded, and was shut down. The water company was urging extreme conservation, and telling everyone not to even bathe in the water coming out of the tap. So, my friend and his wife grabbed a hotel room over the weekend, and just returned home this afternoon. No word on when water will be restored.

Electricity is still out in many areas. Some of this is due to power company problems, some due to flooding and the electricity simply being shut off to certain areas. I'm sure that North Carolina is experiencing much the same thing.

If this is the result of a 6 hour storm, I'm wondering what a 3 day storm would have been like...

-- Anonymous, September 20, 1999

In Harrisburg PA, some people finally had their power restored just today (Monday). A lot of spoiled food. I saw in the paper a friend of mine lost all of her food. If I had known that, she could have borrowed my generator. I only lost cable for 2 days.

Does anyone know anymore about the incident where a patient on a respirator died when the power failed at a Providence RI hospital from Floyd? It was on ABC radio news.

The biggest lesson learned from Floyd is, rapid or timely evacuation is impossible. A nuclear accident would leave a lot of people exposed while stuck in traffic.

Anyone notice how quickly the media said that evacuation orders may have been overly pre-cautious. Then 48 hours later they report how helicopters are still rescuing people from treetops.

This must be the year of "all is well," don't scare the people.

-- Anonymous, September 20, 1999

Glad to hear that you are all safe and sound.

Terri

-- Anonymous, September 20, 1999