Floods and Fires

The weather has been crazy. When it started raining, I figured Hoboken would flood because it always seems to flood when it rains. See, Hoboken has been development crazy and the infrastructure hasn't kept pace with all of the many condos. I guess for many years they've always had problems but it has only become worse in the last few years. I live on the palisades and on top of a hill (on the palisade) so I wasn't too worried about any problems.

I kept monitoring the situation in Hoboken as people started reporting and posting photos of flood waters. A four alarm fire started in the early evening. A lot of fire trucks came barreling down our street to help out and I could eventually smell a little smoke. Never a good thing when a lumber company starts burning. When I went to bed, I heard a very large noise and then tons of sirens. I couldn't see anything outside so I went back to bed. Sirens continued. I looked again and I saw flashing lights down the street by a large high rise apartment. I couldn't tell what was going on and it was really late so I went to bed.

I found out this morning that a retaining wall collapsed less than a block from our apartment. It is a wall we go past all of the time and cuts off a major route for us to Hoboken. They evacuated an apartment building and are not sure if any other portions of the wall will collapse. I walked to the light rail. The sewage smell of Hoboken was a little overpowering. The light rail ride was interesting to see all of the cars submerged and our second major route to Hoboken turned into a lake. When we arrived at the Hoboken Terminal, I saw white caps on the Hudson River as high tide came in.

The rest of my trip on the PATH train was uneventful. But, I was worried about my return trip with the rain that fell in the morning. It was fine except not much water had dissipated in Hoboken. What has become a bigger deal is the retaining wall. They ended up cutting off access to our local park (yes, the infamous park where Elston plays with her buddies and I wage war with baseball coaches) and most of the area surrounding the retaining wall. They are working on removing the debris to see if there is anyone underneath. Now there are reports that a retaining wall holding up a parking garage of the large high rise apartment. Crazy. Fortunately, it has stopped raining.

The story on the wall collapse
http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=traffic&id=5213380

Photos of Hoboken flooding
http://s168.photobucket.com/albums/u179/jdworley/Hobo%20Flood/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/7860531@N06/sets/72157600082536731/