Dr. Phil stated years ago that we will have more rain. But who knew it would be this much! But there is much to learn about this storm with the name Irene. The storm itself didn't really pack much of a bang.
There are 2 main culprits with most storms. It's the rain and the wind. The wind is easy to deal with. There have been storms hitting our country forever. And we are well aware that places like Long Island can be without electricity for weeks. Could you imagine what it must be like to live without TV and the internet for 2 weeks? And of course the most stressful part is not knowing when the electricity will be turned back on.
The idiots start blaming the infrastructure which is the new Obama buzz word but really it comes down to the trees. We already have code officers busting home owner's chops with GFI circuits in the garage, handrails, and "E" glass windows. Why don't the codes and the governments take down the trees that if blown down will take down the power to many houses? There is probably some tree hugging idiot concerned about Rocky the Flying Squirrel that lives in the tree,
but cut the damn tree down. These trees can be cut down for pennies if you get to them while they are small. For every large tree that takes out a power line, it costs a great deal of money to remove the tree, replace the telephone pole(s) and re-wire all the damage. And don't forget all the food lost as the freezers lay quiet. I went out and bought 3 containers of ice cream just in case we lost our electricity. Don't you know we didn't lose our electricity! It's just like life insurance.
Many people died because of trees and that is a shame. I have many large trees and it always amazes me that as the branch falls from maybe 30 to 60 feet from above and it has leaves and branches on it, it hits the ground cut end first. In almost all cases this end digs into the ground a few inches. Some times several inches and it is actually difficult to remove after it impales the ground.
You don't have to be a rocket scientist to know that if this end of the branch hits the top of a head or the back of a neck you are going to die! My guess is that more people probably die from trees then they do from lightening. But you never hear much about:
"Don't go under large trees when the wind is blowing". Also not a good idea when it is raining. What happens is if there is a dead branch in the tree, the water from the rain gets absorbed by the dead branch and as it becomes heavier due to the water, then it becomes a weapon as it makes its way toward earth.
So the word to the wise, stay away from large trees when there is heavy rain and wind.
The water is a different issue. There are Federal, state and local laws that are suppose to limit the amount of storm water that runs off these massive developments. In Palmer Township for years it was easy to build here. All you have to do I have been
told is to pay someone off and you can build. Keep in mind that it would be real easy to design a development where the storm water is controlled properly. They would have to build larger and more detention basins to hold the storm water. But in most cases there is not sufficient retention and after they build the massive developments the water runs down to the creeks and rivers faster then ever. And when you go to fight these folks, they have so much money you just can't win, unless you can find an honest judge. Good luck with that quest.
So the local political machine is tied into this mess. Let's face it most of these homes or businesses are selling for $300,000 a house to maybe up to a million dollars a home. If a developer and builder really built the development the way it should be, they would lose millions of dollars in profit. One official said if they made them build more detention basins they wouldn't build.
When you think about all the damage they have caused nationwide… maybe they shouldn't build. But the least the FBI can do is hold the developers and their racketeering buddies accountable for their crimes.
When you look at all the major damage caused by the flooding, it was all caused by overflowing rivers and creeks.
So you could be the dumbest person in the world and you would have to ask, why did all these creeks over-flow so badly?
The crooks will tell you that there was a lot of rain. The fact is there was not a lot of rain. Let me tell you why. The developments are supposed to be designed to withstand a 100 year storm. These engineers sit on a toilet and come up with a number. To give you an example in my area a 100 year storm is 7.3 inches of rain in a 24 hour period. I can tell you I have not found one development in my area that manages storm water that would meet that requirement. There are a couple of developments that have the largest detention basins in the world, but you will not find any detained storm water in them.
Vermont had 9 inches of rain. It should have been able to handle the water.
So for argument sake let's say each development is poorly designed and it can only handle 2 inches of rain. So when you get 7 inches of rain the excess 5 inches of rain is dumped directly into the creeks and swales.
This excess would not be there if the development was built correctly! And in all cases more water gets to the creeks faster.
And it's just all downhill from there, all this water is heading for one central point. And all of a sudden when the creeks and rivers start overflowing because of this;
the flooding causes billions of dollars worth of damage. The developers are long gone, enjoying their money far from where all the damage is occurring.
All this water after it stops flooding your land ends up in the ocean and the process begins again.
As the ocean rises the idiots blame it on global warming. But it's the storm water that causes it to rise. And then Mother Nature using its negative feedback loop mechanism needs to fix the problem. As the oceans are filled with more fresh water something has to give. If the water is too heavy we need earthquakes to adjust for the weight change. If we want to lessen the water weight we need rain. So while the developers keep dumping water into the ocean faster and faster with more volume every year,
Mother Nature will try her best to send it back. One of the darndest ways to do that is with a hurricane like Irene.
So what do we need?
We need to warn people to stay away from trees. We need to have an untainted attorney general investigate these crooked developers. We need to figure out a way to capture all that fresh water and put it to good use.
Why are we flushing all that fresh water into the salt water ocean? And just maybe if we stop flushing all this fresh water into the ocean the oceans will stop rising (assuming they are rising now). If the oceans stop rising we will have halted global warming and cap and trade and activists like Daryl Hannah can go back to acting. And just maybe with a little bit of luck there will be fewer storms. But even if we have storms, the flooding will be under control.
And the government won't have another problem that it has to bail someone out of with taxpayer money.
One small note, when the government comes in to help give money to all the homes that have been destroyed, it is a low interest loan. It is not a bail out. Do you think just maybe that someone should be held accountable for all that flooding?
There are grants for the townships but you the homeowner get another monthly payment! We have the laws to prevent this flooding; we just don't have anyone to enforce them!
