Thursday, March 4, 2010

What Fresh Hell?

Flood Plain stuff.



Turns out all those maps, with the lines showing the limits of the flood danger, were calculated in 80's using a slide rule to crunch the numbers and a graphite pencil on vellum, with a bamboo scale, to locate them. The scale is approx 1 mile per inch.
Try to see the width of the line at that scale. It would fall between the two wood columns on the front porch.
The computer used at that time was an 8088. The models being generated today use cutting edge computers (not leading edge, not state of the art) and GPS triangulated data from hot s**t devices that are mounted on cars, boats, planes, trains and yaks, if the needs arises. It can measure a 400 meter swath of date as it rolls along at highway speed. (terrain and structures)

So the lesson of the hour: when you look at a map of the flood plain in your town and you see a line that says the flood plain is way across the road from your house and you don't need flood insurance. Well buy it, cause you don't need it and it's cheap. When, (when) the flood water rise up into your home, you will thank me, or not.
Oh buy the weigh, the numbers they are using for the flood water height are based on the NGVD 1929. The new numbers NAVD 1988, the factor of error is a foot, plus or minus. (either way you'er screwed)

Ok, still not convinced? Close all the doors in your house and stuff towels at the sills, ok now flood your house with 2 inches of water. How does it feel? Where's the cat? Did you pick up the blanket like I said?

Enough of that.


9 comments:

  1. That's some good advice there Punch. Hope things dry out soon and the losses aren't too great.

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  2. That flooding shit is something I am not going to worry about right now. Although a few years ago a water main broke and about 20 homes flooded. The city told them to go eff themselves, they should have had flood insurance.

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  3. Well damn son, you did get something out of that conference. And you are scaring the shit out of me. I'm calling my lying ass agent right now.

    BTW, I know that place in the photo...or I think I do. Is that not on the St. Johns, south of Sanford? A bait and tackle shop which also rents small boats. Wondering really.

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  4. Oh yeah almost let this slip by. Stevie Ray Vaughan had to be black inside. Good stuff bro.

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  5. Lou...good to hear from you again. It's not flooding here right now, but part of my job is to try to build an image of what a flood might do to you. If you have not been in a flood, it is hard to understand. One really must get off of work and walk out to get in your car to go home and see it in water half way up the door panel. Of course that was way before flood plain management.
    Hey it went down in only two hours, man. Get a grip!@

    Walkin' Man...that sucks, technically that is not a flood. It is flooding, caused by lack of infrastructure funds, caused by the fat daddy city fathers, or should that be s***y mothers, that cut the taxes of the fat daddies, that put them in power. If it had happened in the Right, Rich, Republician part of town, you could lay bets on how long it would take to fix up the personal property, at city expense.

    JadedJ...yes indeed, trouble is most folks don't want to hear it.
    Mr. Vaughn was true to the blues. I still miss him. Seein' him as a young man with a master was a treat. Albert King playin' rhythm for Stevie Ray, that is so rare.

    JJ...Oh yeah, no it is not in Volusia county, but rather the St. Mary's River on the Fla/Ga border. Actually it is the Fla/Ga line. But I'm sure it was the same kind of joint you recall, back in the day. I might add King's Bay Naval Base is the project that caused this Adverse Impact on God's Little acre.
    Don't know if this will come across, but you can google map US17 at Kings Bay, Ga.
    Did not occur to me till now, that while in Lake Mary, I posted a photo, (that i made) of St Mary's River. La Virgen loves me.

    http://maps.google.com/maps?sourceid=navclient&rlz=1T4ADFA_enUS351US351&q=kings+bay+ga&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=Kings+Bay+Base,+GA&gl=us&ei=LqmRS99V6LPxBtCv0fYE&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=image&resnum=1&ved=0CBAQ8gEwAA

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  6. I saw the mighty Susquehanna get too big for her bridges and her britches on many occasions, so I have the utmost respect for the power of water to do what it wants, in spite of what the "experts" say.

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  7. If it floods at my house you better start looking for some kat building a big ass boat they call an ark.

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  8. you should be so lucky
    do you know where King's Bay is??????

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  9. inelli???
    can this man speak english???

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email punchnojudy@gmail.com, love being alive, the alterntiative has lousy hours, liberal and don't care if you give me cracked corn.