[CH] OFF: Hurricane Floyd
Stober, Karen, SOHQ (kstober@att.com)
Fri, 17 Sep 1999 07:44:50 -0400
I am in a total disaster area. Only Hurricane Doria of 1971 was worse. As
expected, it is business as usual at IBM, so I am at work.
Unlike the tornado of last year where I sustained about $10,000 of damage at
home, I was unaffected. However, the town of Bound Brook, next door, is
destroyed. The Raritan River is at a ten foot crest and expected to get
higher. Fires have burned out of control, destroying the Harley-Davidsen
shop. It has spread to the shops along the entire block. There is NO way
fire vehicles can be brought in to stop it. Apartments are lost. People
are on top of the buildings. Helicopters are trying to rescue them. The
pictures I saw before coming to work on TV are incredible. I can see the
helicopters and smoke from my office in Piscataway. Water is ten feet deep
in the main street of Bound Brook. A person is trapped in the old American
Cyanimid building and they may not be able to rescue him. Bound Brook Main
Street was destroyed twice by floods in 1996 and the town did nothing.
There is no power on Route 22 and the golf driving range and florists are
submerged. I saw mud on the street and garage doors crumpled, so I know the
low parts of my street had flooding.
Last I heard was that my county, Somerset, was the worst hit. First thing I
saw when I got to the bottom of my hill were rescue people extricating
someone from a Cadillac that was way back in the trees. Plus they had to
keep an eye on traffic, since all the lights are out. Except for the gas
station, which is up and running, and has a good crowd to buy coffee an
buns. Emergency vehicles everywhere. New York City had to call in power
companies from Quebec and Ohio to help keep the power going. The power
stations here are flooded and we must conserve energy. Many have no power.
I didn't have any interruptions this time. Last year, with the tornado, I
had no power for five days.
Bound Brook is horrific. I hope nobody dies, but they weren't too hopeful
about the guy at American Cyanimid.
We've gone from the worst drought conditions ever to the worst flooding of
all. Anywhere between fourteen to nineteen inches of rain fell in less than
twenty-four hours. The water companies are telling residents to boil all
water. The sewage treatment plants have overflowed into the water supplies.
I have well water and mine is clear. I think a reservoir was in danger of
bursting in Pennsylvania and about two hundred homes had to be evacuated.
This story is just starting here. I have never seen so much flooding in my
life, but I don't remember Doria.
Keep dry