I've Seen Fire and I've seen Rain!

Here you see my krautmobile(AKA My Work Van) doing a rather poor imitation of a submarine. Up in my part of the world we got sort of an ice storm last night. Actually it was mostly rain with some ice-as it stayed above freezing most of the night.

Thinking we'd get ice, I decided to take my car home rather than the krautmobile(Yes, I know it has Dodge badges all over it, but it's really a Mercedes van), since the 88-88 is a better vehicle in wintry weather, despite it's lack of ABS, traction control and all that. I figured, even if I did get stuck; better it should be my car and not the work van. Yeah, right. What you're looking at is the view from the rear door of our warehouse. There's a ground drain to the left of the rear bumper, obviously nonfunctional. And for all intents and purposes, so was the van for the majority of the day. After the water receded, it was driveable; though the rear of the cargo compartment got quite wet.

Things were pretty much a mess: the building lost power at about 5.10pm on Thursday; and power stayed off at least until I left on my last run at 6.00pm tonight. We had no phones or anything until like 4-we were running the office on mobiles. No heat, either. I left my warehouse guy sitting and freezing in the warehouse waiting on a large oxygen tank delivery. There was some consolation for him: I passed the oxygen truck on the way out.

There were a lot of trees down; and the power lines just north of us took a nasty hit: there was a line along US 9W that had most of the line broken. Central Hudson was working on it most of the day, and still had a long way to go. On the Thruway in Orange County, there were a lot of tree company trucks heading north-I saw like 5 groups of 4 within a few miles. Then there was the flooding. Nothing on the interstates, but there was a lot on other roads. On Grand Street going north from Vineyard to US 9W; I ran into a patch that was nearly water covered.

Oddly, in all this, I fared pretty well. I lost power momentarily, but that wasn't storm related-the guys fixing up the downstairs apartment were putzing around with the electrics. I was amazed that they were there at all, given the weather conditions. It was literally bucketing down rain throughout the night.

Comments

Interstate 40's Tumultuous Ride Through the Pigeon River Gorge

In the nearly 60 years Interstate 40 has been open to traffic through the Pigeon River Gorge in the mountains of Western North Carolina, it has been troubled by frequent rockslides and damaging flooding, which has seen the over 30-mile stretch through North Carolina and Tennessee closed for months at a time. Most recently, excessive rainfall from Hurricane Helene in September 2024 saw sections of Interstate 40 wash away into a raging Pigeon River. While the physical troubles of Interstate 40 are well known, how I-40 came to be through the area is a tale of its own. Interstate 40 West through Haywood County near mile marker 10. I-40's route through the Pigeon River Gorge dates to local political squabbles in the 1940s and a state highway law written in 1921. A small note appeared in the July 28, 1945, Asheville Times. It read that the North Carolina State Highway Commission had authorized a feasibility study of a "...water-level road down [the] Pigeon River to the Tennessee l...

Massena Center Suspension Bridge

The Massena Center Bridge, also known as the Holton D. Robinson Bridge, has had quite the tumultuous history. Situated on the Grasse River just east of Massena, New York in the hamlet of Massena Center, the Massena Center Bridge is a reminder of the efforts the community has made in order to connect over the river. The first and only other known bridge to be built at Massena Center was built in 1832, but that bridge was never long for this world. During the spring of 1833, the Grasse River dammed itself due to an ice dam, flooded and lifted the bridge off its foundation, destroying the bridge in the process. The floods were frequent in the river during the spring, often backing up the river from Hogansburg and past Massena Center, but not to nearby Massena. After the first bridge disappeared, local residents had to resort to traveling seven miles west to Massena to cross the next closest bridge, and that was no easy task for a horse and buggy. However, it was many decades befo...

The Dead Man's Curve of Interstate 90 and Innerbelt Freeway in Cleveland

"Dead Man's Curve" refers to the transition ramp Interstate 90 takes between Cleveland Memorial Shoreway onto the Innerbelt Freeway in downtown Cleveland, Ohio. Said curve includes a sharp transition between the two freeways which is known for a high rate of accidents. Currently the curve (not officially named) has a 35 MPH advisory speed and numerous safety features intended to mitigate crashes. When the Interstate System was first conceived during 1956, Interstate 90 was intended to use the entirety Cleveland Memorial Shoreway and connect to the Northwest Freeway through Lakewood. The Innerbelt Freeway was initially planned as the northernmost segment of Interstate 71. The extension of Cleveland Memorial Shoreway west of Edgewater Park was never constructed which led to Interstate 90 being routed through the Innerbelt Freeway. Part 1; the history of Cleveland's Innerbelt Freeway and Deadman's Curve The Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956 was signe...