And The River Keeps Rising

The swollen river spills over the banks and mercilessly sweeps away everything in her path.   Street signs and cars and parks go under without the first chance to defend themselves.  You can kneel on the railroad bridge and almost touch the muddy water.  Some home sites are turned into islands, owners left stranded.  A brightly painted doghouse drifts lazily down a residential street, carried on the water as lightly as a feather.  And the river keeps rising.

It’s been several days since there’s been any rain but the damage is already done.  The utility companies prepare to cut power in a half dozen neighborhoods and the mayor’s office issues emergency evacuation orders.  The river will reach a full foot above flood stage in a matter of hours and slowly but surely we’re running out of higher ground.  They say it may be July before the waters recede.

A number of small minded and self-righteous folks begin posting comments to the flood pictures about how and where homes ought to be built, as if the victims had brought this on themselves and suggesting that it’s retribution for their being money’d.  It’s cruel and thoughtless – but not really surprising - and there are immediate rebuttals.  Nature doesn’t target the rich, someone else points out and floods don’t discriminate.

In the very midst of all this chaos, there comes a freak wind born of a violent thunderstorm and it rages through one of the oldest and most historic sections of the city, leveling trees and fences and power lines and leaving a path of wanton destruction.  It’s 2am and the sounds of chain saws are singing people awake.

Regardless of what we’ve accomplished and how far we think we’ve come, nature still has her own agenda.  She cares not where we build our houses or how much we depend on electricity.  She speaks louder and more fiercely than all the victims put together and her mood these days is foul.

The Flood of 2015 will be talked about for years and remembered for decades.

And the river keeps rising.