Extreme commuting ... really!

[ricki]

I met with a guy today who related a life threatening experience that he went through just two evenings ago. All he asked for was a yellow pad of paper as he said he lost his along with his brief case in a bizarre incident.

He was driving home outside Philadelphia, PA. This area is over 1000 miles north of where Hurricane Jeanne moved over Florida. Several roads had been closed off by the police due to local flash flooding in the rainfall associated with the remnants of what was formerly known as Hurricane Jeanne.


From: http://images.ibsys.com/
Is that a person in the drivers seat?

The sun had just set and there were no road lights in the area he was driving in. There was a lot of water in the road but after a while he noticed that it was becoming fairly deep in no time at all. What was a 12 ft. wide creek and swollen to at least 100 ft. wide and was growing fast! Suddenly, his car stalled out. As he was taking this in the water was rising very rapidly. The car was swept down current against a farm fence. A gaggle of large canadian geese added to the surreal quality of the moment by being swept into the car and pelting it with wings and webbed feet as they struggled to get the hell out of Dodge themselves.

He decided that he had to get out and quick. He tried to open the driver's door but wasn't able to budge it. The water was also seeping into the car. He figured at some point the water will rise high enough in the car to equalize the water pressure to allow him to open the door. He decided not to wait for that. He jumped into the backseat and was able to open one of the rear doors. He got out into about 3 ft. of rapidly rising water. He could see a little bit by his headlights a couple of feet below water, that is until they went out a short time later.


From: http://images.ibsys.com/

He figures that if he didn't have something to hang on to he would have been swept away. An SUV had just cruised by a short time before but was swimming back upstream in a hurry to avoid going SCUBA diving in the flood. Our guy tried to get into the passager door but couldn't move it against the water pressure. So, he jumped on the running board as they moved up hill. They managed to get above flood waters but were pretty much stuck there with no where safe to go that wasn't going underwater. So, they hung out for about three hours until the flood subsided. He had someone come to pick him up at that time.

He found his car the next day having been totally submerged and totaled as a result. He mentioned that a woman from his area died not too far away that night when her car was swept under a stalled bus.

I have heard about flash floods primarily out west and they kind of make sense in the context of arid areas. Who would have thought that they could cause an extreme commute in Pennsylvania?! Hurricanes can seriously impact a lot more than the tropics and subtropics.



From: http://images.ibsys.com/


More at:
http://www.ktvu.com/weather/3738848/detail.html

[ricki]

I met with a guy today who related a life threatening experience that he went through just two evenings ago. All he asked for was a yellow pad of paper as he said he lost his along with his brief case in a bizarre incident.

He was driving home outside Philadelphia, PA. This area is over 1000 miles north of where Hurricane Jeanne moved over Florida. Several roads had been closed off by the police due to local flash flooding in the rainfall associated with the remnants of what was formerly known as Hurricane Jeanne.


From: http://images.ibsys.com/
Is that a person in the drivers seat?

The sun had just set and there were no road lights in the area he was driving in. There was a lot of water in the road but after a while he noticed that it was becoming fairly deep in no time at all. What was a 12 ft. wide creek and swollen to at least 100 ft. wide and was growing fast! Suddenly, his car stalled out. As he was taking this in the water was rising very rapidly. The car was swept down current against a farm fence. A gaggle of large canadian geese added to the surreal quality of the moment by being swept into the car and pelting it with wings and webbed feet as they struggled to get the hell out of Dodge themselves.

He decided that he had to get out and quick. He tried to open the driver's door but wasn't able to budge it. The water was also seeping into the car. He figured at some point the water will rise high enough in the car to equalize the water pressure to allow him to open the door. He decided not to wait for that. He jumped into the backseat and was able to open one of the rear doors. He got out into about 3 ft. of rapidly rising water. He could see a little bit by his headlights a couple of feet below water, that is until they went out a short time later.


From: http://images.ibsys.com/

He figures that if he didn't have something to hang on to he would have been swept away. An SUV had just cruised by a short time before but was swimming back upstream in a hurry to avoid going SCUBA diving in the flood. Our guy tried to get into the passager door but couldn't move it against the water pressure. So, he jumped on the running board as they moved up hill. They managed to get above flood waters but were pretty much stuck there with no where safe to go that wasn't going underwater. So, they hung out for about three hours until the flood subsided. He had someone come to pick him up at that time.

He found his car the next day having been totally submerged and totaled as a result. He mentioned that a woman from his area died not too far away that night when her car was swept under a stalled bus.

I have heard about flash floods primarily out west and they kind of make sense in the context of arid areas. Who would have thought that they could cause an extreme commute in Pennsylvania?! Hurricanes can seriously impact a lot more than the tropics and subtropics.



From: http://images.ibsys.com/


More at:
http://www.ktvu.com/weather/3738848/detail.html