Lake For a Day

Last Wednesday Manhattan had a pretty strong storm in the middle of the day that caused flooding near my apartment complex. I was home to view the whole thing from the time the clouds rolled in, to the aftermath of the flood. The following is how the day went:

Shortly after Noon I stepped out onto my balcony to view the darkening sky. What was once a blue spring/summer morning turned dark gray in a hurry. Initially, the clouds settled over the city and it appeared as if the storm picked on Manhattan because I could see blue on the outskirts of the storm in all directions as the rain began pouring in shortly before 1:00 PM. I imagined a time when people would have thought the Gods were angry; it was that kind of storm. After a long bout of rain, probably about 45 minutes or so, there was calm. It appeared as a lighter gray in the center of the darkness that surrounded the city. Then the heavens opened up again and let out torrents of rainfall. At about 3:00 I looked outside of my window and this is what I saw:



This is what it normally looks like:




The wall that you see is a levy that is built up about three feet to protect against this very thing. Wildcat Creek had turned into a flowing river and was circling around the field just outside of our complex. By 4:00 the pasture was full of water. I had to go to a doctor’s appointment and returned home shortly after 5 when the flood was at its peak. This was the scene at that point:




Jenn and I decided to walk to nearby Anneberg Park to see where the creek was flowing and what we saw there was more of the same: a flowing river that had gone off course and joined with the pond to create a flooded park:



This is what it normally looks like:



We walked to the edge of the water where it was washing up on the parking lot as if it were a beach. While we stood and watched the water do as it pleased, a lonely turtle waddled across the parking lot and into the water as if it had found a creek bank in its natural surroundings:



Back at home I marveled at the amount of people who pulled into our complex to see the flood waters. There were people of all ages and nationalities. Everybody wanted to see the water play in the field. By sunset as the onlookers began to dwindle, the trees began to reflect off the water, creating a beautifully moonlit landscape. Fireflies danced over their newfound playground as the night got darker and I enjoyed my temporary waterfront property. I went to bed grateful for all I have and when I awoke in the morning, the lake was gone.

The whole experience showed that water still owns this planet. It was as if water decided it wanted to play where the humans do, just for a day.

Author's note: There were several complexes that actually got flooded and my heart goes out to anyone who suffered loss from this flood. My post simply reflects what I saw that day.