In spite of the brilliantly sunny weather outdoors currently, we’re in a “Flood Watch” until 9pm. Apparently, there’s some huge storm headed our way that’s going to dump flood waters on us.
I’m amused by this whole “Flood Watch” thing. I suppose I shouldn’t make light, considering that warning people about potential floods could save lives, but I’ve got to ask for some common sense here. Some of our signs and signals just don’t make immediate sense.
For instance, if you’re busy looking at the “Children At Play” sign, how will you see the children playing?
One of the more ridiculous and hard to explain signs on the road these days is the Wait For Green sign. Everyone’s response is usually, “Well, duh!” This sign is not to be confused with the No Turn on Red sign, which actually does have a completely different meaning.
But this Flood Watch thing… No, it’s not a traffic sign, but it is an example of another dumb signal we give to alert each other to impending doom.
I always imagine myself standing in the middle of our street, patrolling for errant floods. “Seen any floods lately, Bill?” “Not tonight, Fred. Hopefully we’ll last through this watch without seeing any floods.”
And when the flood does come, it’s always this tower of water 30-40 feet high, knocking out utility poles and sweeping away homes as it makes its way up the hill I live on toward my house.
“Look out! There’s the flood!”
What are you going to do when the flood comes anyway? If you don’t know whether the flood is coming to your neighborhood, then how can you plan for the flood? I mean, what goes does it do to sit on your front porch watching for flood waters? Are you going to be able to save more of your stuff? I wonder if you should just seek higher ground while the flood watch is in effect generally.
I’m no stranger to the flood waters. In spite of the whole “living on a hill” thing, I’ve had a leaky basement for too long, and have even had my little hill surrounded by flood waters. (Man, those pictures rock.) So, I can have some empathy for flood victims. But I still think this whole “watch” is silly.
I’ll be on the lookout tonight.
