No Way Out; The Aftermath
- May 29, 2011
- Category: Daily Diary
- (11) Comments
I hope everyone is having a great holiday weekend. I wrote the other day about our storm and showed you our driveway. It didn’t take much for Mountain Man and his excavator to repair it and off we went to see about getting out of our neighborhood. We thought perhaps it might be rough but we had no idea about the extent of the damage. Here’s some of our photos.
Our usual way out now consists of a huge crevice. The depth perception is off in this photo but the hole is about 15 feet deep.
Mountain Man surveys the damage and we both are in awe at the destructive power of water. Hard to comprehend.
Imagine water flowing so quickly, it broke these huge pipes.
This also used to be a road.
As was this.
We decide to try another way to see if that is open. It looks promising.
We approach the bridge and see that the railing for the bridge which usually goes down the road a way is now curved. Not a good sign.
Oh, no, the bridge has been upended. Just think about how fast the water was running to cause this kind of damage.
Mountain Man ponders the situation.
I climbed onto the bridge to give you a view looking back at the road.
Mountain Man just looked at my pictures and he said they can’t convey the power of the damage. He’s right. It’s beyond words and the power of my camera.
And, no, there is no way out at the moment and yes, we are cut off from the world along with a few neighbors but thankfully we are fine and I can’t complain. I think about the people who are stranded as we are who are elderly or have young children or medical issues. They are the ones I worry about. The power of this storm and the damage it did and seeing the aftermath has left me shocked. It’s hard to comprehend.
Thanks everyone for visiting us. We appreciate you always.
I’m thinking of you and everything in the Kingdom after these rains. Down here in the Upper Valley we’ve had four straight days of sun. It seems unfair…. Hopefully you’ll be unstranded soon or have a way for someone to reach you with groceries should you need!
Cabin Fever in Vermont
Date: May 29, 2011
The weather has been strange all spring, it seems that there are floods or storms all over. Perhaps it was the Japanese Quake that set things off kilter.
What ever it is..I am glad you are safe..hope you get unstranded soon:)
Date: May 29, 2011
The photos may not convey the full story, but they are powerful nonetheless! That is an incredible amount of damage! Please stay safe, you two.
Date: May 29, 2011
Wow- looks like the culvert could be temporarily repaired for emergencies, but it will take a while for the powers that be to deal with the bridge.
Date: May 29, 2011
Sara and Carl, most people I know would freaking out if they knew they could not get to civilization, but yet your two seem to be as calm as can be. I can see from the pictures that Carl is already assessing just to do to go about fixing this road situation. I suppose you could use the minis to pack groceries back home. :0) Just kidding. I listen to many home repair programs on the radio each weekend. Their mantra is always, “Water wins.” The meaning is if you have water issues whether is be a drip, dribble, or flood. There’s no way to win. Just ask those poor folks that got their land flooded when the government blew the dikes because they couldn’t hold back the water. Even slow moving water can move cars and even houses if there’s enough volume behind it. Just the shear weight of water is massive. One gallon weighs 8.35 pounds. Image how many gallons of water passed by your roads and bridges at any given point in time. It’s like driving a freight train through the bridge. Then there’s always the fact that in flash flooding things are dragged along with it like trees. So now this massive force of water has ram rods at it’s disposal. Imagine if you came upon this road situation and water was slowly running down the stream. It would look as if the water was just running across the road a few inches deep. So you decide to drive across to the other side. Imagine your surprise when the car takes a nose dive and all that can be seen it the tail lights sticking up in the air.
DO NOT, DO NOT, DO NOT, try to drive through water across the road no matter how shallow it looks. I know I’m probably preaching to the choir, but it doesn’t hurt to remind folks just how deceiving water can be.
Be safe my friends and have the best day that you can have under the circumstances.
Date: May 29, 2011
Those pictures are very good–they do show how you are trapped on your property at the moment! I hate when my car is in the shop and I feel trapped, never was in your situation though. What a mess! I wonder how long it will take for the roads and that bridge to get fixed.
Date: May 29, 2011
Oh boy, I am so sorry! Were you able to call out and get things going as far as getting a road to get out with?
Date: May 30, 2011
Oh my gosh Sara! The power of nature is awe inspiring, isn’t it?! I’m glad you’re safe and I hope that one of the roads gets repaired soon so that you can get out. Hopefully you have plenty of groceries and supplies to hold you through!
The plates arrived on Saturday and I love them. My SIL is going to love getting these. She will be here in less than 4 weeks now – I cannot believe the wedding is going to be here soon!
Date: May 30, 2011
I’m so glad you are safe! I promise to not complain…ours was just a wind and just the shingles on the roof…nothing like yours. Nothing!
Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
Date: May 30, 2011
WOW! That is incredible and I’m sure the photos do not do it justice. Nature is incredibly strong and can yield such destruction–it scares me! Wind and water are so powerful and I don’t think we realize it until we see damage such as this.
I’m just glad you are safe. Hope you can get it all fixed soon! Go Mountain Man!
Date: May 30, 2011
I’ve been away from my computer the past few days so have missed the recent happenings of your blog.
Water does have incredible power (ask anyone in Japan) and, yes, a camera never fully captures the scope and feel of a disaster.
I’m really glad you’re all alright.
Date: June 01, 2011