Delaware River in Trenton NJ to flood for third time in 2 years.

[NNadir]

2004:

http://nj.usgs.gov/special/flood0904/

2005:

http://nj.usgs.gov/special/flood0405/

2006:


/X.EXT.KPHI.FL.W.0025.060628T1400Z- 000000T0000Z/ /TREN4.3.ER.060628T1400Z. 060629T1800Z.000000T0000Z.NO/ 409 AM EDT WED JUN 28 2006
THE DELAWARE RIVER AT TRENTON. * FROM LATE THIS MORNING UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE.

* AT 03AM WEDNESDAY THE STAGE WAS 18.0 FEET.

* MAJOR FLOODING IS FORECAST.

* FLOOD STAGE IS 20.0 FEET.

* FORECAST TO RISE ABOVE FLOOD STAGE BY LATE THIS MORNING AND CONTINUE TO RISE TO NEAR 28.0 FEET BY EARLY TOMORROW AFTERNOON.



We haven't been hit by any hurricanes recently. Hurricane Floyd in 1998 did tremendous damage around here as well.

[hatrack]

1. 28 feet?!? Holy shit!

Hope you don't have riverfront property, NN!!

[NNadir]

2. No sir, I do not. But I can ride my bicycle to the river.

I have seen lots of flooded houses around here in recent years. A few people are now putting them up on stilts.

One of my neighbors has a vacation home on the river, up North, that has twice been under water. The continual replacement of his furnaces, involving depreciation, has cost him considerable out of pocket money. Last we talked, which was a while ago, he was trying to dump the house. I don't know if he succeeded.

The river has been swinging quite a bit between flooding and trickling. I have no systematic information with how that compares with history, but it is a fickle river. I'm sure I would never buy a home too close to it, especially with the behavior of our local climate.

I think a hurricane here this summer would be a huge problem. When we got hit with Floyd some years ago, we were experiencing a huge drought. I'll keep my eye on your - and PP's - posts on that subject.

[phantom power]

3. This business of drought punctuated by flood seems like bad mojo.

If all the rain comes in the form of flooding, it does more harm than good.

[NNadir]

4. Yeah. I'm not sure what happened with Floyd. The ground was baked.

I don't think it could absorb the water very well.

There is a small stream on my neighbor's property, normally a few centimeters deep. It was a raging torrent during Floyd, at least two meters. I'm sure a lot of that water was water that just couldn't penetrate the ground.

That sort of thing, I guess, is common out your way.

[phantom power]

7. Yes, the implications of the rest of North America becoming...

more like the Sonoran desert make me a bit queasy.

[NNadir]

5. Reading the local paper, this flood is supposed to approach the 1955

level. It may be lower by a matter of less than a foot.

Here's a picture of the Washington Crossing Bridge, near where I live, from that era:



The 2005 flood damaged that bridge and it was closed for about 2 months until divers could repair the piling.

This is going to be bad. It's becoming an annual event around here, even though these are considered "50 year floods."

[ramapo]

6. There goes Old Mine Road

I make it out to Worthington/Delaware NRA once or twice a year. Was there after last year's flooding and the high water mark was mind boggling.

[NNadir]

8. I went over and took a look.

The Washington Crossing Bridge is still open to automotive traffic, although the water is less than 2 meters from coming over the top of the piling. The Pedestrian walkway is closed.

The River is muddly, flowing very fast, and is filled with debris, mostly wood, trees and branches.

The spillway into the river which drains local streams and the Delaware-Raritan canal (a historical canal that is still maintained as a State Park) is pouring huge amounts of water into the river, as are all of the other tributaries I'm sure.

The roadway leading into New Jersey's Washington Crossing Park is already underwater and is closed. Clearly they are preparing to close the bridge as well.

The historic ferry house would seem to be threatened, although I'm sure it has been been inundated before. I heard from people that parts of Trenton are already under water.

[NNadir]

9. I wonder if we'll lose our bridge this time. 2005 and 2004 pictures.

Here's the Washington Crossing bridge during the 2005 flood:



Here's the Washington Crossing Bridge in the 2004 flood:



Here it is under more normal conditions



http://www.pbase.com/rsub8/wash_cross_bridge

After the 2005 flood the bridge was closed for almost two months because the pilings had been struck by a fast moving object - they think it may have been a garbage dumpster.

The 2006 flood now going on is expected to reach nearly the proportions of the 1955 flood that took out one of the Delaware River Bridges when a floating house crashed into it.

Lots of things are hitting the Washington's Crossing Bridge now. Last night my boys and I went down to see it. We saw all kinds of blue drums floating down the river. They looked like chemical drums, but they floated high and may have been empty. We saw huge trees floating as well. One had a huge branch that floated out of the water. It struck the bridge on the railing and snapped like a twig. We saw a huge rectangular structure

Interesting we saw some huge fish, probably a meter long, collecting by a spill way falling into the river. They seemed to be trying to jump out of the river into the waterfall of the spillway. I have no idea about why they were behaving so, but there had to be 20 of them collected there. Someone said they were carp, but I don't know, since I don't fish.