marinegreen
06-29-06, 10:10 AM
These states that are being battered by the rains and flooding are really gonna challenge this administration.If this weather is any indication what is to come this season,where is all the $$ gonna come from for the war and fixing up our storm battered states.
thedrifter
06-29-06, 01:04 PM
It was a monsoon mess
June 29,2006
DANIEL MCNAMARA
DAILY NEWS STAFF
So much for Marines being amphibious.
The Piney Green gate to Camp Lejeune was closed, and traffic in and around Camp Lejeune ground to a snarl Wednesday as floodwaters clogged nearby roadways, according to 2nd Lt. Timothy Patrick, a base spokesman.
The tempest-induced drama wasn’t confined to the base, however, as residents and public and private entities battled the elements that emerged as the muggy morning weather morphed into a soggy firmament perforated by thunderbolts and marble-sized hail.
Going by radar reports, forecaster Mark Faucett of the National Weather Service office in Newport said Wednesday’s storm system showered Jacksonville with three to four inches of precipitation over a period of about two hours, causing widespread flooding in a region already drenched by three straight days of rain.
“We’ve gotten numerous reports of flooding on the east side of Jacksonville,” Faucett said at 5 p.m., adding that flood-related calls were already beginning to come in from the north end of town.
As rainwater built up, low-lying areas filled — threatening property and stranding drivers caught in the occasionally navigable thoroughfares.
Capt. Tim Akers of the Jacksonville Police Department said police had rescued numerous motorists — some of whom he described as curiosity-quenchers, well-wishers, “Looky Lou’s” and other nonessential travelers — whose vehicles had foundered in waters that sometimes surged as high as four feet in the Brynn Marr area.
Many of the drivers left high and dry by the floodwaters, he added, were SUV owners whose rides — often marketed as “all-terrain”— proved ironically ill-suited for the aquatic on-road use.
As such, Akers advised locals to stay put when possible.
“It’s a good time to check with your boss and get flex hours,” Akers said.
While police urged would-be motorists to do their part to keep the streets clear for emergencies, other agencies were asking residents to reduce flood problems by keeping storm drains, ditches and gutters clear of blockage-inducing debris.
To their relief, as of Wednesday afternoon the imperiled Elizabeth Lake dam — upon which Dewitt Street proceeds — remained relatively intact. That integrity, however, proved imminently transitory.
With a potential collapse threatening homes downstream, city officials, at the directive of two state agencies, will begin removing parts of the dam in order to relieve pressure that could lead to failure.
Wetness wasn’t the only issue ruining people’s days Wednesday.
“There’s been quite a bit of lightening over there,” Faucett noted.
Indeed, static electricity’s bully of a big brother snapped, crackled and popped electric transformers servicing a few unlucky area customers.
With winds topping off at 14 mph, lightning proved the biggest cause of the sporadic and generally short-lived outages.
“We’ve had some neat storm with lots of lighting,” Progress Energy President Bob Dupuis said. “Lightning does have a tendency sometime of hitting the right spots.”
Jones-Onslow EMC spokesman Steve Goodson reported having less than 100 customers without power — most of whom were in the Ellis Boulevard vicinity.
“Wind blows everywhere, lightning doesn’t necessarily strike everywhere,” Goodson noted.
Contact staff writer Daniel McNamara at 353-1171, ext. 237 or at dmcnamara@freedomenc.com.
Ellie
We got almost 7 inches in 1 hour....:(