jesouhaite47

How clueless am I that I didn't realize Gaston's effects in Richmond made the national news? My mom called, sure, but my sister is in Puerto Rico visiting her in-laws, and my mom's tracking Frances like a meteorologist. After several concerned e-mails and a comment in my LJ, I thought I'd post to say that the fam and I are just fine. Thanks everyone for worrying!!

For those of you who don't know, Gaston dumped anywhere from 8-14 inches of rain on Richmond last night.

We've had the wettest summer in history, and the already saturated ground couldn't take it. The Shockhoe Bottom area in dowtown was the hardest hit, with a 20 block area almost completely under water. They've even condemned several buildings today. Richmond is on the James River, and we have a flood wall that protects the city from the river overflowing it's banks. Yesterday, it also did a wonderful job of holding in the accumulated rainfall so it had no place to recede. I was actually chatting with sarah when hubby yelled at me that I had to see the news. I got to the TV in time to see pictures of water rising over the top of a bus, and many shots of cars just being washed down roads. It was amazing. I've seen floods before, but never one this close to home.

We live about 15 minutes outside the city, but it made all the difference. We're at a high enough elevation that we were barely affected. Other than getting drenched on the way home (thanks to a 3 year old holding the umbrella in just the right way that it was running off directly onto my ass), we came out completely unscathed. Thank goodness. I'm also going directly to hell because I was just a little bit happy that my afternoon meeting was cancelled today, because the parking lot at the building where the meeting was to be held was still submerged. Yep, I'm horrible.

ETA: The Gmail invites are multiplying like bunnies. I have 6 more. Want one? E-mail me at jesouhaite47 [at] gmail [dot] com