I can’t imagine what it’s like to live in the city of Houston these days.
Following Hurricane Harvey, the citizens of that U.S. city and the 50 surrounding counties are facing torrential rain that was more than double the annual rainfall there.
Some places already had exceeded more than 30 inches of rainfall, with an additional 20 inches of rain expected to fall.
The city’s emergency department had never anticipated the destructive forces of rain in the amounts that have followed Harvey. I certainly can’t imagine what it’s like to receive so much rain at one time.
Up until this storm, the record rainfall accumulation in the U.S. occurred in Alvin, Tex. on July 25, 1979, when 43 inches of rain fell on that community in a 24-hour period.
When my wife and I visited Cairns, Australia, a monsoon hit the community and dumped more than a metre of rain on the city. But it is not unusual for that city to experience such huge rain storms during monsoon season in the months of January, February, and March.
The city was not hampered by the storm we saw, but signs along the highway pointed to low spots in the road where the water could reach 1.2 metres over the road bed.
Many of the SUVs and trucks had snorkels to allow the engines to breath when going through water overflowing the streets and roads.
The city was grateful that the tides were lower than usual, which helped with the run-off.
We do not ever expect to receive a metre of rain over our region, although the year we received 30 cm of rain in a 24-hour period, Fort Frances almost became an island. Water washed out parts of Highway 11 east of Fort Frances while a section of Highway 71 to Kenora also was underwater.
In a matter of a few days, Rainy Lake rose by almost a metre, flooding low-lying areas and putting docks underwater. Many people just didn’t go to their cottages.
But what might happen if the district received a metre of rain in a 24-hour period. Would we be prepared to keep the water at bay? Could we react fast enough to sandbag low points in Fort Frances and Rainy River?
Could we expect more roads to be washed out and sections of the district cut off?
Our big worries come in the form of huge snowstorms that drop two-three feet of snow on the ground, and the wind gathers and whips up huge snow drifts.
Fortunately, they are not regular occurrences and we seem to be able to adjust to them.
