"Forecast has N.E. bracing for flood; Two-day storm may bring region 3-6 inches of rain" by Travis Andersen and Peter Schworm, Globe Staff | March 29, 2010
Yeah, that's all we ever talk about up here.
With many deluged communities still drying out from recent damaging floods, the region braced for another burst of heavy rainfall today that could push swollen rivers over their banks for the third time this month. Prolonged downpours are expected to drop 3 to 6 inches of rain on already saturated areas, with some forecasts calling for significantly more....
On our way as I type and hear the pitterpatter of the rain outside.
The storm could make this month, already the wettest Massachusetts March on record, the soggiest calendar month ever in the state....
And that is BEFORE APRIL'S SHOWERS that bring MAY FLOWERS!
A sign of global cooling?
Representatives are urging President Obama to declare a disaster in Massachusetts, which would make residents and businesses affected by flooding eligible for federal aid....
They alway$ have to have their hand$ in other people$' pocket$, huh?
It is NOT THAT BAD YET, readers, and I am sure there are HARDER HIT PLACES elsewhere in the United States.
The relentless showers swamped basements, turned backyards into ponds, and flooded roadways, leaving many residents at their wits’ end.
Especially because it is COLD when it RAINS!!
For those who were most waterlogged, news of another major storm was almost too much to bear.
“It basically hasn’t stopped since the 15th,’’ said Faith Chen, a 50-year-old mother of four, as she sloshed around her basement in Sudbury, still soggy from the last rains.
“It’s just been a very wet, bad, late winter.’’
What? Say again.
In Wayland, Ted Rice has been running two sump pumps day and night to bail out his flooded basement. Rice had previously moved his 18th-century home onto a new foundation to minimize the risks of flooding, but water still rushed in.
“You spend a fortune on designing and you still get 2 feet of water,’’ said Rice, 38.
“To go through what we’ve gone through and still have water is . . .’’
Rice was too tired to finish his thought, but his sentiment was clear. He shoved his hands in his pockets and sighed a weary sigh.
Oh, the same things I let loose when reading the morning Glob.
And you know what dam(n)s I'm holding back, readers!
"Many of state’s ‘high hazard’ dams go uninspected; As flood waters rise, repairs can’t keep up with deteriorating structures" by Peter Schworm, Globe Staff | March 28, 2010
Despite the promises, little appears to have changed.
Getting used to that, but....
A Globe review of state inspection records found that 60 “high hazard’’ dams, whose failure would cause serious property damage and potential loss of life, are in poor condition, with major structural deficiencies. Five more are deemed unsafe. More than half of the 60 have not been inspected in the past two years, as required by state law. Many have not had an official inspection since 2006.
Hey, it is OKAY for the LAW-ENFORCING AUTHORITIES to BREAK the LAW!!
I mean they are JUST DOING IT to "protec.... actually, that won't fly here, will it?
The deluge of rain this month revived concerns, as rising waters threatened numerous dams in Eastern Massachusetts. Safety officials are facing renewed scrutiny over dam safety from critics who warn that the abundance of aging, ill-maintained structures poses a growing threat. Decades of half-measures and outright neglect, they say, have taken a dangerous toll.
Well, when you are tossing tax loot into interest payments to banks, borrowing for bio-loot, funding green-tech losers, cutting checks for profitable Hollywood and lining political pensions and paychecks there is not much left.
Related: The Massachusetts State Budget
Yeah, WHERE DID those INCREASED TAXES GO, anyway?
“These structures are getting older and older, and it’s just a matter of time until one of them fails,’’ Brian Graber, regional director of river restoration at the conservation group American Rivers, said of Massachusetts dams. “It’s like a time bomb waiting to go off.’’
I hope the road isn't washed out on the way to my basketball game tonight.
Officials at the state Department of Conservation and Recreation, whose dam safety office has oversight responsibility for dams across the state, say that since 2005 they have assembled an inventory of dams and their conditions, stepped up scrutiny of a number of poorly maintained public dams and made key repairs.
“In the past year or so, over 20 high-hazard dams have been repaired,’’ said Richard Sullivan, the department’s commissioner. “We’re confident in their safety.’’
Oh, the lying state says no problem.
But, he said, the number of dams deemed to be in unsafe and poor condition has increased in recent years, possibly because improved record keeping has identified added problems.
Yeah, BUT was the LAST word I wanted to read after what he said.
But don't worry about that water outside; worry so much about global warming instead that we need a tax for it.
And in a time of austere budgets, it is hard to gain ground. The DCR dam safety group has a staff of five, far fewer than national standards dictate, and a bare-bones budget of $770,000 to run the office and make repairs on the neediest dams, half the budget of just two years ago.
Yeah, what need do we have for PUBLIC SERVANTS(?) to be LOOKING OUT for the PUBLIC, 'eh?
Now who else can they put on the payroll and give a title to so they can pick up some extra pension perks?
The diminished resources, and fading public attention, vexes some elected officials....
Then DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!!
That is WHY you were ELECTED!
Among the many problems state officials say they encounter in trying to shore up dams are cash-strapped communities with responsibility for inspecting and repairing dams inside their borders.
You know, I DON'T UNDERSTAND IT!
All those TAX INCREASES and for WHAT?
With long lists of other spending priorities, many are deferring dam maintenance.
What OTHER PRIORITIES?
Related: The Massachusetts Model: Municipal Health Mess
The Massachusetts Model: Mayors Make Lawmakers Mad
Oh, SELF-SERVING PUBLIC SERVANTS SUCKING UP PUBLIC TAX LOOT, 'eh?
Some privately owned dams, despite pressure from local and state officials, are all but ignored. In some cases, the owners, or their whereabouts, are unknown.
But they have to know all about you with their spying programs and databases.
In other cases, efforts to convince have been fruitless. For a number of private dams in unsafe or poor condition — from Pittsfield to Marlborough to Kingston — the state has no record at all of regulatory inspections....
And then it will be big and breaking news when something finally does happen.
The widespread maintenance lapses have lent momentum to environmentalists’ hopes for removing some dams, particularly industrial-age relics that have long since outlived their purpose....
I won't oppose their agenda-pushing on that one; let nature take its course just as it should have been.
Alison Bowden, who directs the freshwater program for The Nature Conservancy, and other environmentalists support a bill, now before the Legislature, that would create a $20 million revolving loan fund to help communities remove and repair dams.
Now THAT I am NOT FOR!!
I'm TIRED of AGENDA-PUSHING LOANS and those offering them!
In Gloucester, which has several dams in poor condition, officials acknowledge they can only afford incremental, short-term repairs.
“We can’t tackle them all at once,’’ said Carolyn Kirk, the city’s mayor. “Gloucester is living proof of what happens when you neglect infrastructure.’’
Yeah, and instead the most famous thing they are known for through the agenda-pushing MSM is the never-existed pregnancy pact.
Speaking of which, I think my water just broke.
One of the dams listed in poor condition holds back a reservoir with 177 million gallons of water near an elderly housing complex.
“People definitely worry about that,’’ she said.
Yeah, DEAD OLD FOLK FLOATING AROUND the FLOODED TOWN?
I AM WORRIED, too!!!
Of course, WE have INTEREST PAYMENTS to make to banks first, Massachusetts taxpayers.
Then Hollywood, biotech, green-tech, etc, etc.
