Blow wind, come wrack
Well, if you follow the weather news you might have noticed that things are a little soggy hereabouts. The average rainfall in the area over the last two days has been 9.5" or about 24 cm, which is rather more than usual. There's been all kinds of localized flooding, including several government buildings, cars washed away, people being rescued by boat from flood waters in the middle of suburbs, the total package.
What amazes me though is that you don't need something so extreme to nearly shut down the city -- 2" / 5 cm will do it. The storm drains mostly are from the late 19th century, some stretches are theoretically the original wood, and they aren't too well sited. In addition, the power lines are all above ground and very vulnerable to the trees (which themselves are part of the appeal of living in town). In fairness, buildings like the Department of Commerce and the IRS headquarters are built right over underground streams, so that's bad planning rather than poor maintenance. (Minor trivia: one of my clients at Commerce told me that the foundation walls of the building are something like a yard thick to withstand the water pressure...)
I am still struck that the capital city of the wealthiest country in the world is in such a state. It's not surprising if you know much about general American and also local politics, but as my granny used to say, "It won't do, you know." I suspect that most Europeans have this reaction at some point; I was talking once to our neighbour G (who works for the World Bank, and whose family lives in the other half of this demi-detached house) about something to do with the positioning of the power lines coming into the house, and his comment was that he'd seen better workmanship in Bulgaria.
What amazes me though is that you don't need something so extreme to nearly shut down the city -- 2" / 5 cm will do it. The storm drains mostly are from the late 19th century, some stretches are theoretically the original wood, and they aren't too well sited. In addition, the power lines are all above ground and very vulnerable to the trees (which themselves are part of the appeal of living in town). In fairness, buildings like the Department of Commerce and the IRS headquarters are built right over underground streams, so that's bad planning rather than poor maintenance. (Minor trivia: one of my clients at Commerce told me that the foundation walls of the building are something like a yard thick to withstand the water pressure...)
I am still struck that the capital city of the wealthiest country in the world is in such a state. It's not surprising if you know much about general American and also local politics, but as my granny used to say, "It won't do, you know." I suspect that most Europeans have this reaction at some point; I was talking once to our neighbour G (who works for the World Bank, and whose family lives in the other half of this demi-detached house) about something to do with the positioning of the power lines coming into the house, and his comment was that he'd seen better workmanship in Bulgaria.
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