There's often a small beach to the right of this seawall
Detritus that high water deposited along the riverCopyright 2009 Lydia Hinshaw
ORMOND BEACH, FL -- Four days ago we were enduring a severe drought. Now we're worried about flood, not fire.
The Weather Channel just now reported that our fair city has been blessed (ha!) with 24 inches of rain since the skies opened up Monday. The official National Weather Service figure, measured eight miles away at the airport in Daytona Beach, is more conservative, about 17 inches as of early Thursday morning.
I've lived in Florida for 37 years, and absent a hurricane, I cannot remember rainfall like this. It's still coming down, and at least one more day of it is predicted. We have set an all-time rainfall record for the month of May, with nine days to go.
The pictures above were shot on the banks of the Intracoastal Waterway, aka the Halifax River, a block from my house.
Alas, I've missed some great pictures due to my reluctance to carry a camera around in a monsoon. Wednesday afternoon, you could have seen me slogging 20 yards through foot-deep water to get to the school bus I drive to pick up kids every afternoon. The daycare center's back parking lot had turned into a lake.
Fortunately, the bus rides high enough that I was able to get it out of there without a Coast Guard tow, and after I brought the kids back from school, I parked on higher ground.
The YMCA pool where I work my other job has not been able to open for more than a few minutes at a time since Monday, due to lightning. We must continually drain water to provide room for the water that's coming down from the sky.
This morning, my lifeguard shift canceled, I went to the Y anyway for an exercise class. It was canceled too, because so few folks showed up. The whole facility was expected to close in another hour or so because of high water on its access street.
My house remains high and dry, thankfully. The new rain jacket Prince Charming bought for me a month ago has been invaluable. My choice of footwear -- sport sandals designed for raft trips and stream-crossings -- has been perfect. Puddles, even the ones that have grown into lakes, don't slow me down.
The Weather Channel just now reported that our fair city has been blessed (ha!) with 24 inches of rain since the skies opened up Monday. The official National Weather Service figure, measured eight miles away at the airport in Daytona Beach, is more conservative, about 17 inches as of early Thursday morning.
I've lived in Florida for 37 years, and absent a hurricane, I cannot remember rainfall like this. It's still coming down, and at least one more day of it is predicted. We have set an all-time rainfall record for the month of May, with nine days to go.
The pictures above were shot on the banks of the Intracoastal Waterway, aka the Halifax River, a block from my house.
Alas, I've missed some great pictures due to my reluctance to carry a camera around in a monsoon. Wednesday afternoon, you could have seen me slogging 20 yards through foot-deep water to get to the school bus I drive to pick up kids every afternoon. The daycare center's back parking lot had turned into a lake.
Fortunately, the bus rides high enough that I was able to get it out of there without a Coast Guard tow, and after I brought the kids back from school, I parked on higher ground.
The YMCA pool where I work my other job has not been able to open for more than a few minutes at a time since Monday, due to lightning. We must continually drain water to provide room for the water that's coming down from the sky.
This morning, my lifeguard shift canceled, I went to the Y anyway for an exercise class. It was canceled too, because so few folks showed up. The whole facility was expected to close in another hour or so because of high water on its access street.
My house remains high and dry, thankfully. The new rain jacket Prince Charming bought for me a month ago has been invaluable. My choice of footwear -- sport sandals designed for raft trips and stream-crossings -- has been perfect. Puddles, even the ones that have grown into lakes, don't slow me down.
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