heavy rain/flood in mid Europe
Posted: Tue Aug 23, 2005 8:06 am
Hey friends,
there have been heavy rains the past couple of days all over alpine regions. Weather is beginning to lighten up, but who knows how long that´ll last.
All over the country roads are being blocked by streams of mud and debris, whole valleys and even counties are inaccessible. Roads are flooded and destroyed.
Because of that, about 2/3rds of my colleagues weren´t able to come to work and had to stay at home this morning.
A creek running through my village has transformed from a friendly rivulet 12" deep to a 7´ deep, fast, and muddy monster. You can hear boulders rolling along its path, and even feel the earth vibrate as they bump into each other.
Two valleys upstream, another "creek" had destroyed a road, washing away 20ft running across it. A car driver tried to cross what he thought was shallow water with pavement underneath and was washed away. They have found neither vehicle nor driver yet.
The weather is easing up on us, fortunately, but the earth is all soaked with water, so the flooding will go on as the mountains get drained the next few days.
Really makes you stand in appreciation (and fear) of nature´s powers. Funny how every year superlatives are being topped, and I can´t see how mankind should NOT have any impact on this. These things used to happen in the past, but with decenniums rather than months in between.
there have been heavy rains the past couple of days all over alpine regions. Weather is beginning to lighten up, but who knows how long that´ll last.
All over the country roads are being blocked by streams of mud and debris, whole valleys and even counties are inaccessible. Roads are flooded and destroyed.
Because of that, about 2/3rds of my colleagues weren´t able to come to work and had to stay at home this morning.
A creek running through my village has transformed from a friendly rivulet 12" deep to a 7´ deep, fast, and muddy monster. You can hear boulders rolling along its path, and even feel the earth vibrate as they bump into each other.
Two valleys upstream, another "creek" had destroyed a road, washing away 20ft running across it. A car driver tried to cross what he thought was shallow water with pavement underneath and was washed away. They have found neither vehicle nor driver yet.
The weather is easing up on us, fortunately, but the earth is all soaked with water, so the flooding will go on as the mountains get drained the next few days.
Really makes you stand in appreciation (and fear) of nature´s powers. Funny how every year superlatives are being topped, and I can´t see how mankind should NOT have any impact on this. These things used to happen in the past, but with decenniums rather than months in between.