Okay, really?

[CityGirlintheCountry]

I'm watching Storm Stories on The Weather Channel. They are telling some tale of flooding. Here's what makes me

This lady is driving to work one morning on a major interstate and sees ZERO cars on either side of the road. She is the only one driving. Major interstate. Middle of the day. Don't you think that if you were the ONLY soul on the interstate in the middle of the day that it would make you think that something is wrong? It's not like this lady was driving down a highway in the middle of nowhere. She was on an interstate in a populated area. She said it didn't occur to her that anything was wrong. ???!??!?!?!

Turns out the interstate had been closed for flooding. I missed the part that said how she managed to get ON the interstate in the first place. But still. NOBODY on the road. Of course her car was washed off the road and then she had to be rescued by these two guys that put their lives at risk to get her back out of the water. ARGGGG.

Okay, it just came back on and it was talking about the flooding in Atlanta a few years back. So she was in ATLANTA and no one was on the interstate. That is unheard of. There are always people on the interstates in Atlanta. Usually there are eleventy billion NASCAR wannabees on the interstates in Atlanta. "No, no... I didn't think it odd that no one else was on the road. In the rain. In the middle of the day. After many, many days of heavy rain. La, la, la..."

This is why I shouldn't watch television.

 

[MustLoveHens]

It always amazes me that people are so oblivious and in their own little world that they miss major stuff like an interstate being shut down. Although Im not surprised!! At least she was lucky that someone was around to rescue her.
Years ago I lived in So Cal and every few years we'd get a major torrent of rain. This was bad because the stream beds and water ways would get saturated very quickly and in the LA area all that run off would be directed to the sea via these man made concret canal/drainage ditch type things. The water would rip down these things so fast they would create rapids and rip currents. There was always some surfer yahoo who just has to try to surf these and needless to say they would need to be rescued. One city got so tired of it, they billed the emergency response to the "surfer".

 

[Boyd]

Quote:
I was pulled over going through Dallas on 35 when I was pulled over. Ice storm... I know I know.. but look where I'm from k? I thought nothing of the 1/2 inch of slush and ice on highway. Was more concerned with my GPS and time I was getting to ma's house. Got pulled over. Cop informed me that the highways where shut down. Took one look at my license and let me go.

Asked me if I drove through stuff like this. I told him only on the mild days from Nov-March

Disgusted at me.. but

 

[CityGirlintheCountry]

It just boggles the mind, doesn't it?

Nashville and the general middle TN area had a huge flood back in May. They started calling it the 100 year flood and later upgraded it to a 500 year flood. Places no where near the flood plain flooded. There were just massive amounts of water everywhere. It started raining Saturday morning and didn't stop for three days. Franklin (a town just south of Nashville) got 14.85 inches of rain over that weekend. It was so stunningly out of normal for this area that it preempted all television and radio for days.
My BIL is a fireman in Franklin. The entire department was called in to work midday on Saturday and they worked solid for days it seems (they did eventually start sending people home to rest, but it felt like he was at work forever!). For most of Saturday and Sunday morning they did water rescues for people stranded in their homes by the sudden rise of water. Sunday afternoon they started having to rescue sightseers who had come out to see "just how bad it was".

One of my sister's aquaintances was laughing that she and her kids had gone to see a movie Sunday afternoon and had to be rescued from the theatre when they came out.

Okay, really? There is horrible flooding going on EVERYWHERE in the area and you think you should haul your kids out of your safe house and take them to a movie in a part of town where all around it has been closed for flooding?

Nevermind that you are putting the rescuer at risk too by your stupid, selfish behavior.

Stupid people...

 

[CityGirlintheCountry]

Ah, Boyd, you know we don't know how to drive on the stuff down here. We get snow so rarely that it becomes a holiday.

 

[Imp]

One of my mom's favorite stories was set back in the 90's. They(parents) were driving in California and got on the freeway. They did notice that there were no other cars on the freeway. Even thought it was eerie. Made it almost an hour before they got pulled over. The freeway was under construction and closed. They were escorted off the freeway, but didn't get into touble because the entrance ramp was not marked.
I kept asking how you could not notice it was under construction, they said it looked just like a normal freeway, just empty. Like an TEOTWAWKI movie.

Imp- Said it was the best traffic they ever saw.

 

[Boyd]

Quote:
but that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it. I'm a transplant at heart who learned to drive up north. .. Needless to say when folks are "snow bound" I am running to the grocery buying beer for a day of football, wings and company

 

[Rammy]

I live in Tn also and am originally from WVa. You learn to drive in snow up there. It just amazes me when it starts spouting snow, they close schools down here. I remember going to school in WVa with chains on the school bus tires. When it does snow down here it only lasts a day, sometimes three at the most. Ive seen it snow like crazy down here and by afternoon, its gone! But people see a snow flake and they make a run to the local grocery store and stock up on millk and bread. I mean really!! You think your going to starve in three days? And what good is it going to do if you stock up on milk and other things that need refrigerated and the power goes out? When I first moved down here in the early 90's we got a terrible ice storm I believe it was 94, and we had no power for two weeks. It stayed cold enough tho, we put our perishables in a cooler and put it outside. Stayed colder than what it would of in the fridge.

I think Ive called off work 10 times in the almost 20 years Ive lived down here because of the weather. One thing Ive never done is try to drive through water that Ive known is too high for my vehicle. Its just not smart. Im glad the lady who did was rescued. Im sure she will think twice before she ever does that again.

Rammy

 

[Wifezilla]

Boyd, I know what you mean. I took my driver's test in a snow storm! LOL In northern Wisconsin, unless you get 3 feet in 10 minutes, life goes on! I used to go to work BEFORE the snow plows came out. I lived on a county highway on the side of a hill. I had to drive 14 miles through back country roads to get to the main road. There was no calling in to work since I worked breakfast shift at the Hojos and I had to make the coffee for the road crew

Now in Colorado, people freak out when more than 1" of snow falls. That may sound strange, but Colorado Springs and the major metropolitan areas DO NOT get a lot of snow. It usually stays up in the mountains where it belongs. Most people around here DO NOT know how to drive in the snow. The funniest thing is seeing all the wrecked 4x4's as I drive around in my VW golf through the mess.

 

[Rte.66_chicks]

I like the "dumb motorist law" we have here. Those who have to be rescued from such situations foot the bill-and in some cases, that includes helicopter rescue. It is just incredible how many stupid people just drive right into flooded roads-they even go around barricades.