Flood paddle
- Thread starter pinelandpaddler
- Start date
Me too Mark. Exactly! Another instance that put the fear into me was a visit to some sort of dam and waterworks on the Savannah River in Georgia when I was about 5. That water far below tumbling and churning, angrily entering or exiting piping made me shudder. When I get near a water works, or a strong flow at a culvert, or hydro dam, I involuntarily shudder.
Mine probably stems back to some early experience too, although if so I've forgotten it. I visited Niagara with my family when I was really young. That could certainly have done it. What with the falls, the whirlpool, the hydro canal (a 100' deep slot through solid bedrock that runs for five or six miles and carries flow to a hydro plant) Niagara is the Mt. Rushmore of water works phobias
.
Mine probably stems back to some early experience too, although if so I've forgotten it. I visited Niagara with my family when I was really young. That could certainly have done it. What with the falls, the whirlpool, the hydro canal (a 100' deep slot through solid bedrock that runs for five or six miles and carries flow to a hydro plant) Niagara is the Mt. Rushmore of water works phobias
I went down to the river after the falls. Awesome power, wasn't it? I just knew if anybody fell off that boardwalk they'd be dead, never mind scared.
Yeah, awesome almost isn't enough of a word. I took my own kids there a few years back and they really enjoyed it. We took the tunnel tour behind the falls, and the ride on the Maid of the Mist. The cable-car over the whirlpool was closed due to wind, which I sort of didn't mind. It was on that trip that I heard the story of Roger Woodward, which I am still amazed by...
http://www.infoniagara.com/history/rogerwoodward_miracle.aspx
I still remember this story being on the news and that 2 men from NJ saved the kids.
They saved the sister when she was about six feet from the edge. The first NJ guy climbed over the rail and literally just hooked her thumb. He thought he was going to lose her so he shouted and NJ guy #2 climbed over and grabbed her wrist. The boy went over and was picked up by the Maid of the Mist. That's reall cohones, man. I jumped into the Delaware at Penn's Landing in January once to pull a drowning drunk out, but I don't know if I could climb over that rail at Niagara.
I got a general feeling of uneasiness while walking along the rail just before the falls. I have been on that boardwalk downriver from the falls and witnessed that raging madness of a river. Damn.
Hey Gabe, break out that canoe, waters 10 feet high and rising!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:OswegoRiverNewJersey1939.PNG
PS: some research:
August 20, 1939 - Tuckerton receives 14.8 inches (376 mm) of precipitation, which is the wettest known tropical cyclone in the state. [20]
From: http://wapedia.mobi/en/List_of_New_Jersey_hurricanes
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:OswegoRiverNewJersey1939.PNG
PS: some research:
August 20, 1939 - Tuckerton receives 14.8 inches (376 mm) of precipitation, which is the wettest known tropical cyclone in the state. [20]
From: http://wapedia.mobi/en/List_of_New_Jersey_hurricanes
Bob,
BGreat photo! That was the 1939 storm that spelled the doom of many structures along our water courses. Great find.
BGreat photo! That was the 1939 storm that spelled the doom of many structures along our water courses. Great find.
I looked on the arial from 1930. They had literally stripped the lower part of the Oswego of trees (cedars and pines apparently)...which would have contributed to massive runoff.
I still have not made my "Then And Now" of the Harrisville Dam, so I am not posting the complete photo until I do. It is interesting to note that those wooden guardrails were still there when I fist visited there in 1973. I believe by 1975 they started construction on the new dam and removed them. But not before I was able to get one photo that shows it.
The next time I am at the dam I will get my "Now" photo and get this posted.
Guy
The next time I am at the dam I will get my "Now" photo and get this posted.
Guy
Made it out for another flood paddle in the wake of Irene. The water was about 2 and 1/2 feet higher than last time! Pictures to come.
