Monday, August 3, 2015

Rain, Rain

It's been raining here in Tampa. A lot. We're fortunate in that our home happens to be in a higher point of the neighborhood and on piers, so we've been pretty dry, but many of our neighbors have not been as lucky. And driving is out of the question in many parts of town.

For reference, this is Bayshore Boulevard, which is about three miles south of us. Bayshore is not typically, you know, eight feet under water or kayakable. That little curved line on the right is the sea wall. To keep the Gulf of Mexico out. To the upper right you can see the onramp to Davis Island and Tampa General Hospital, where my children will not be going today for their annual and school check ups. 



... and this is Bayshore from street level looking out on the bay. Please keep in mind that water is rife with all the raw sewage that has overflowed from the past-capacity city sewer. Eeeewwwww.

Brad, my hero, spent several hours on Saturday night alongside another neighbor digging out an enclosed crawl space of an older home to save a feral cat who had taken refuge from the storm. As the water rose the elderly resident of the home had heard her crying. Thank heavens for sump pumps. Brad came home covered in mud and mosquito bites. The cat spent the night trapped under the house but found her way out the following morning, safe and sound. 

This is another neighbor shop-vaccing her spare bedroom. 


  
And here's the view from mere blocks from us. 


Now the sewers are backing up. People just four blocks south of us have sewage bubbling up through drains. It's supposed to rain until about 4:00pm. Then the tide comes in at 5:00pm. Keep your fingers crossed.


As I said, we've been lucky. I think we'll be staying inside today. Possibly with our pajamas on.

P.S. I wish there were a way to send some of this rain to California. 



No comments:

Post a Comment