Toad Chokin’ Rain

A week and a half ago, I wrote that we went to the beach on a very rainy day.  Maybe it had something to do with that, or maybe the Weather Spirits are having some weird fun, but we’re still having a lot of rain here in deep South Texas.

No – we’re not in as bad shape as Oklahoma, Kansas, or north Texas  – we have no rivers overflowing (yet), but still . . . there’s been a lot of rain.

(As always, be sure to click on a photo to see a larger version.)

The thunder overhead is making me wonder if I should turn off the computer, but, I feel lucky tonight, so I’ll keep on writing.

These folks weren’t quite as stupid as you might think.  They got caught on an expressway frontage road with no way to escape the high water.  The pickup trucks didn’t have as much trouble as the cars, and this fellow drove through deep water to get up into a parking lot where there was a lot less water.

Well – maybe this guy was stupid.  He could have pulled into the same parking lot I was sitting in, but chose to go into deep water instead – even after the saw the other vehicles partly submerged.  A bit after I took this photo, the police closed off the frontage road.

Deep south Texas is flat – as flat as a table top.  Though the streets are built to drain water away as best as possible, the fact is that its hard for water to flow away when the land is flat.  Almost every intersection had a lot of water in it.

While I was inserting photos into this post, I saw this photo.  I just can’t resist doing a little comparison between Huê and McAllen.  Rain is rain, but the traffic in the two cities deal with it a lot differently.

Comments

[Tom Murray]

Rain is a seriuos issue here in Charleston, SC. It's nothing like the west right now. I feel so sorry for those people.

In Charleston the downtown historic district has old, antiquated sewers. It only takes a reasonably hard rain for the water to build up in the streets. Last year I bought boots so I don't get my socks and shoes soaked as I step into three or four inches of water as I walk around campus.

The girls in the city all have very fashionable old style rubber boots. My wife has a nice pair. They look good and they keep the ladies dry with water eight to ten inches deep.

Last fall it rained so hard the sewer lid outside of Student Health Services where my wife works was popped off by the heavy water flow. Several students were walking with shoes in hand and fell into the hole that was formerly covered with the heavy metal lid. The students were immediately helped to Health Services until the college could find a way to redirect walkers.

I've never seen and choked toads around here though.

[Russ]

Nice comparison. Send some of that our way please.

[Annie]

Oops. One of my friends live in Texas. Somedays ago, he said "the weather is really crazy", but I thought Delaware weather is also crazy. So I said "maybe Delaware is simiral with Texas", but now I relize that it was perfectly WRONG!! Be careful from the crazy weather!!