It started at about 4 AM, when I was awakened by what sounded like an animal screaming. Shaking too much to move, I woke up Robin to check on the cats to make sure it wasn't them. As best we can figure out, it might have been one of the outdoor cats (kept by our downstairs basement neighbors) attacking a squirrel. I think I drifted off again about an hour later.
I probably just should have stayed up and gotten out of the house at 7 to get the commuter buses today. As it was, just as my alarm went off the rain started coming down much more heavily than I've seen it in awhile (and, considering I've been through the Great Jersey Flood of July 23 and a couple other very nasty floods 'round these parts in the last couple months, that's saying something) so I gave it an extra 10 minutes or so before I got in the car, and hoped it would abate by the time I was on the road. No such luck. I'm grateful that all the highways and local roads were bumper-to-bumper, so I didn't have to traverse all the waterlogged areas at more than 2mph. It took me 2½ hours to make what would ordinarily be a half-hour commute.
When I pulled into our building's driveway area, I had to maneuver around an armored car, then slowly through about a 6"-deep "moat" to get to the back parking lot because the front lot area was filled, then I had to walk around the entire lot to get to where there weren't ankle-deep puddles to get under the bank's awning, which didn't help much because there were little leaks all over the place, including the elevator lobby - and just as I was about to breathe a sigh of relief at having reached the elevator, a bank employee waylaid me to say, "UPS delivered some boxes here yesterday with your name on them"... and I'm thinking, and one of your employees couldn't have brought them up to me? I have to schlep them along with my umbrella and morning tea and I haven't even gotten into my office! But schlep I did, arriving at about 10 AM.
The rain slowed for awhile but has just picked up again. The "moat" has receded a bit but I have a feeling it may fill up anew. Maybe by my afternoon commute things will finally be calm and a little less harrowing. I know we're relatively lucky up here in NYC and Westchster County - it's not Florida, it's not Japan - but in a way that can be more dangerous. Floridians and Japanese had ample warnings to stay off the roads and in safe areas. New Yorkers don't know enough to come in out of a torrential, flood-causing deluge.
I probably just should have stayed up and gotten out of the house at 7 to get the commuter buses today. As it was, just as my alarm went off the rain started coming down much more heavily than I've seen it in awhile (and, considering I've been through the Great Jersey Flood of July 23 and a couple other very nasty floods 'round these parts in the last couple months, that's saying something) so I gave it an extra 10 minutes or so before I got in the car, and hoped it would abate by the time I was on the road. No such luck. I'm grateful that all the highways and local roads were bumper-to-bumper, so I didn't have to traverse all the waterlogged areas at more than 2mph. It took me 2½ hours to make what would ordinarily be a half-hour commute.
When I pulled into our building's driveway area, I had to maneuver around an armored car, then slowly through about a 6"-deep "moat" to get to the back parking lot because the front lot area was filled, then I had to walk around the entire lot to get to where there weren't ankle-deep puddles to get under the bank's awning, which didn't help much because there were little leaks all over the place, including the elevator lobby - and just as I was about to breathe a sigh of relief at having reached the elevator, a bank employee waylaid me to say, "UPS delivered some boxes here yesterday with your name on them"... and I'm thinking, and one of your employees couldn't have brought them up to me? I have to schlep them along with my umbrella and morning tea and I haven't even gotten into my office! But schlep I did, arriving at about 10 AM.
The rain slowed for awhile but has just picked up again. The "moat" has receded a bit but I have a feeling it may fill up anew. Maybe by my afternoon commute things will finally be calm and a little less harrowing. I know we're relatively lucky up here in NYC and Westchster County - it's not Florida, it's not Japan - but in a way that can be more dangerous. Floridians and Japanese had ample warnings to stay off the roads and in safe areas. New Yorkers don't know enough to come in out of a torrential, flood-causing deluge.
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