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| -Short Attention Span Theater- |
| 20 Blocks of Downtown Richmond Condemned after Gaston |
| 2004-08-31 |
| Well, we caught hell yesterday. Pictures at the link. EFL About 20 blocks of downtown Richmond were condemned after the remnants of Tropical Storm Gaston battered central Virginia with torrential rain Monday, causing heavy flooding that sent cars floating down streets and trapped people in buildings. Five deaths were confirmed in the region, Gov. Mark R. Warner said Tuesday. "It's a remarkable blessing that more people weren't hurt," Warner said at a news conference. "The devastation to a lot of the businesses in Shockoe Bottom is overwhelming." A brick building of at least two stories collapsed in the historic, low-lying Shockoe Bottom area, and several dozen buildings had extensive water damage from floodwaters up to 10 feet, Mayor Rudolph McCollum said. Floodwaters overran about half of the historic neighborhood, including most of the restaurants in the nightclub district. Whole walls of buildings splintered, and bricks blew out of others. The city sheriff's office had to evacuate a juvenile detention center. More than 100 cars were waterlogged. Many had simply floated away _ some resting atop fire hydrants and other vehicles. City officials said the damage would easily be in the millions of dollars but said it was too early to provide an estimate. It was un-freaking-believeable! I spent 1-1/2 white-knuckled hours trying to get home yesterday evening, only to end up back at work, since every road home was flooded. I'm glad I've got an SUV; there were lots of regular cars flooded out all along the way. Later in the evening, I tried again by going west first (I live to the south of downtown, on the other side of the James River), then across one of the few bridges still open, then 6 ways 'round robin hood's barn to get within 1/2 mile of home, whereupon I found the main road to my house blocked by flood waters. I've lived here since 1978 and NEVER seen that road flood in that particular place. We had some serious water flowing last night! Had to backtrack and go way out of my way again to get to the one road to my house that wasn't under water at some point. (And I was damned grateful for that road - lots of people either couldn't get into or out of their neighborhoods, as the roads were cut off by flood waters in both directions.) This is truely a disaster for the area. |
| Posted by:Barbara Skolaut |
| #8 I trained at the Medical Colleage on Broad Street, met my wife in Richmond, married her there. I do hope all you Rantburgers there are safe and sound. |
| Posted by: Steve White 2004-09-01 12:24:32 AM |
| #7 Most drinking water is OK. Some isolated areas lost their pumps because the electricity was out. The water, power, and gas are off in the damaged area. In one of the surrounding counties (on the other side of Richmond from where I live), an entire water main was washed away. They're screwed for a while. |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2004-08-31 9:47:43 PM |
| #6 Barbara---has the drinking water system been knocked out? The water in the mains could be polluted. Also I would imagine that the sewers in the Bottom are out of service, too. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2004-08-31 9:28:59 PM |
| #5 Thanks, Shipman. I'm careful about that. What amazes me is the people in regular (low-slung) cars who drive through what is obviously water up above their door bottoms. We have an area in south Richmond that is notorious for flooding whenever it rains hard - the city even put up posts with feet marked on them so you can see how high the water is - and every time it floods, fool after fool drives right into the water and gets flooded out. BTW, I drove down around the edge of the damaged area in the Bottom (it's blocked off with plenty of cops to enforce it) after work today. It looks like a muddy war zone. They were still towing cars - the ones they could get to, anyway. It's going to be a long time before that area is useable again. |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2004-08-31 9:24:24 PM |
| #4 Glad you are safe Barb... for god's sake don't try to drive thru anying you wouldn't let you first grader walk thru. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-08-31 6:26:19 PM |
| #3 One other note: I've got a job to go to today; lots of other people here don't, and won't for quite a while. (And many of them are those who can least afford to be out of work, even for a day.) The horror stories pile up. One of our secretaries lost her car when she was almost home (but luckily she got out with her life). Another guy spent the night in our building, since he was parked in the area that flooded and had no way to get home anyway. A lady in one of the flooded apartment buildings met her refrigerator floating down the hallway. There have been several people drowned in their cars, and the Chesterfield County Fire Department rescued at least 40 people from flooded cars alone. The emergency services people all over Central Virginia have been doing a Herculean job. |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2004-08-31 3:50:21 PM |
| #2 Thanks, Seafarious. Lots of people have lost their homes, and even more their cars. The apartments that were flooded out around Falling Creek house lower income people, so I'm sure they had no insurance. Some of them had to be evacuated by fire truck and boat. The LOCAL Red Cross is probably the best place to send a donation - earmark it for local hurricane relief and that's what it will be used for. (I have no use for the Int'l RC, but the local one helps local people after fires, floods, etc.) Not only are a great many businesses in Shockoe Bottom affected, quite a few people live there too; the area has really grown in the last 10 years or so, as many people have moved into warehouses and other buildings refurbished as apartments downtown. This is going to be financially devastating for a lot of people, as well as for the city. A lot of the nightlife - and the resulting income - of the city was in the Bottom. I'm profoundly grateful that I (1) park in an above-street lot, (2) park about 3 blocks west of the damaged area, (3) work in a building that wasn't affected, except for a brief power loss (an electrical substation in the Bottom is still under water), (4) I had the sense - and the ability - to go back to work when it was obvious all the roads were blocked, and (5) my house and car weren't damaged. I'm one of the lucky ones. |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2004-08-31 3:38:46 PM |
| #1 Gee, Barbara, it sounds dreadful! Let us know if there's someplace accepting donations... |
| Posted by: Seafarious 2004-08-31 3:25:21 PM |