[Artemisia] Flood Victims in Artemesia?

[HL Isabeau de Sevingy]

--- Dawn Tavares <dtavares1 at hotmail.com> wrote:

> I was watching the news coverage of the flooding and
> landslides in 
> Washington County when a thought struck me: There
> might be SCAdians caught 
> in that catastrophe.
> 
> Has anyone done a bedcheck to make sure all the
> southern Artemesians are 
> safe and dry? The fact that I haven't seen a
> cancellation notice for the Ard 
> Ruadh Pas de Arms scheduled for tomorrow is a good
> sign...but I'd feel 
> better with sound confirmation.
> 
> I can't help but think how the devastation along the
> West Coast must grieve 
> the kingdomes of Caid and The West....
> 
> Aurora


Don't know for sure, but when I went to an event there
last winter, I got the distinct impression that the
group members mostly lived in 'downtown' St George and
the much drier towns to the northeast side. That's the
good news.

The major flooding problems were on the northwest of
'downtown' along the Santa Clara river. In fact, such
that if you travel down to the event this weekend, you
are unlikely to see any damaged areas where you would
be going.

Unfortunately, almost every house that was eroded into
the drink, was uninsured. Even though the homeowners
knew that they were on a FEMA designated flood plain,
they decided not to spend their money of flood
insurance, because it was too expensive and that
little creek in the sandy wash 'never raised up very
much'. This last week, the 'little' Santa Clara river,
whose swollen surface was still 12 feet below the lawn
level in peoples yards, was chewing away land at 1
linear foot per minute, right across folks backyards
and around their basements and footings. It wasn't
just the incredible hydrolic force of the water, but
the abrasive force of all the heavy debris in the
water.

Now that it's over, many of these poor folks owe a
mortgage on a property that no longer exists. Neither
can they sell the land the home was on to raise money,
because the land either is too far eroded as to allow
new building on, or is completely obliterated. Many
folks are going to be facing bankruptcy just to be
able to afford a new place to live like an apartment,
some of those will never recover far enough to own a
home again. 

*sigh* Buy the insurance. 

I feel for those folks that made this critical
mistake, I really do, but it also serves as a reminder
to be very careful where you buy or build. This also
applies to the homeowners in the landslide area in La
Conchita in California. Any geologist could have, and
in fact did, state that that area was prone to a large
slide. Yet, people built there and other people bought
there. That same area had a major landslide 10 years
ago. The actual stretch that let loose was showing
smaller slumps in the few days leading up to the major
slide. As it was still raining, a slide was
practically a foregone conclusion. It still amazes me
that so many folks were inside their homes when the
hillside above their home was showing visible signs of
giving way for two days. If they had heeded the
warning the earth was giving them, many more would
have survived.

*stepping down off my soapbox*

And people wonder what geologists/geology students do
all day...
we think about stuff like this.

Isabeau


 


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