Flooding

[John Dillon]

Yea, Paul, we're still recovering from the 12-14+ inches of rain...more rain than fell from Hurricane Agnes in 1972. Two of the three roads I can take to get to my office were flooded and closed. I was using a big fire hose to clean debris from the walkways and parking lots at Bladensburg Waterfront Park, floating docks were tossed around like toothpicks....Lake Needwood rose 28ft in height and its dam sprung a leak...waterfront homes in Alexandria,VA were totalled....the Susquehanna Dam NE of Baltimore was full to capacity and 24 floodgates had to be opened to relieve the pressure, resulting in the flooding of the town of Port Deposit and the huge influx of sediment in to the upper Chesapeake Bay,potentially damaging the aquatic vegetation that the baby blue crabs(Callinectis sapides) and rockfish use for cover. The cleanup will continue for quite some time...many of the Federal Govt buildings in downtown DC were flooded.....but then again, it was expected as DC used to be a big swampway back when. The good thing about all the rain is that now we no longer have a rain deficit, and all the grass has turned dramatically to a bright green, the corn in nearby farmers' fields have jumped in height almost overnight...and our 'normal' hot & humid weather has returned.

[Paul Graf]

I hope everyone is safe from the recent flooding in the DC area? My thoughts & prayers are with you.

Paul G.