Rising waters
Too much rain. That’s the official excuse. However, in Quebec, in Manitoba, in the states that border the mighy Mississippi, the wet has spread, with disastrous results.
Blame it on technology; primitive technology. Certain rivers have been prone to flooding since before recorded time. Others have been forced into the position by interference. Something about wetlands, and “if we could drain that area, we could use it for beneficial things”. And so, the engineers set up complicated drainage systems, and dikes and spillways and all sorts of mechanisms to divert and conquer.
This morning, the government of Manitoba had to breech a dike, and accept that the result would NOT be pleasant for hundreds of homeowners. The count is unclear (typical administrative weakness), but we were able to watch the waters slowly spreading like syrup over pancakes. By next week, there’s going to be some unhappy campers in the area.
Because, if you build on a flood plain, you are a camper. Your house is a tent, and the permanence of four walls and a door is an illusion. Ask the people in Quebec, who live along the Richelieu river. Ask the people in Louisiana, where the spillways are doing (or undoing) their job. Worst flooding in years? You bet.
In a few weeks, those homeowners will return, assess the damage, send in their claims for living in a disaster area. Things will get fixed, and people will refer to this year’s episode as the Floods of ’11. And then we’ll settle in for a long summer. And next year?
