Flooding is no joke.

Rhode Island is still drying out from record-breaking floods.
Almost 10" of rain was dumped on our town in 48 hours. We stayed put during the storm, not venturing out until the day after. Here's a little tour after the flood waters receded significantly.

This used to be a mill town, and the river still flows around these old mill buildings. Water was flowing in one side of the mill and out through the loading docks.


Here you can see the water is just barely making its way under the bridge.

Downstream, the river flows past another old mill building that houses an Orthopedics group. They had waist deep water in the lower level.

Another river in town is usually just a stream. Bill has canoed here a few times and usually struggles through areas of low water levels. About 1/4 mile upstream from here, this river caused major damage to a bridge on a main route into town from the west, cutting off our school bus depot from the main part of town. No school again today.

We walked down the bike path to this swamp which was so eerie. A man out walking his dogs thought the water should be higher here. He suggested that the water had been released, which would explain the severe flooding downstream.

We were lucky that our basement stayed dry. Some of our neighbors and friends were not so lucky and have been pumping for days. I haven't heard anything from Karen yet. Her town has suffered the most power outages. I'm praying her basement isn't flooded again.

On a positive note:
Happy Birthday Katie!

That's no April Fool's joke, either.