Three Mile Island, The Susquehanna, and Sandy [View all]

[jberryhill]

I don't know who might remember Agnes, but there are some heavily populated flood prone zones in Pennsylvania and New York. If you are from those areas, ask your folks if they remember Agnes. It wasn't wind that was a problem, but the staggering amount of water she dumped.

Some time ago, I posted on DU some pictures I snapped of the screen of an Exelon consulting civil engineer who was seated diagonally from me on his way to a presentation to management. Long story short from what I shoulder-surfed and captured is that the river model around which the flood defenses from TMI is designed, is obsolete. Other river projects and changed drainage have increased the "100 year flood" model by several feet.

While there are some stopgap measures in place, the presentation was apparently prepared to explain the expense of proposed improvements to TMI flood protection.

The guy had a sense of humor, as his first slide, before he edited it, said:

"Hey, let's build a nuclear plant in the middle of a river; right near an airport, and next to the capital of Pennsylvania!"

Pretty funny.

Anyway, a whole lot of this storm is going to end up dumping into the Susquehanna.