Good Old Fashioned Disaster

When we bought our home we specifically made sure it had certain features: at least three bedrooms, decent sized yard, not two feet from a neighbor’s home or adjacent window, NOT in a flood plain – you know the basics!

Well right now people are freaking out about this whole possible flood thing.  Fire stations in Renton and Auburn are being sandbagged, evacuation routes being marked, and Hummer sales are increasing.  And yes, I mean the vehicles.  Even though this is a very serious issue, and it could mean a lot of headaches, there’s a part of me that welcomes a flood.  There’s a little voice inside me who squeals: “Bring it on!”

On the down side much of the electricy or powerstations for the Valley are all in Auburn and Kent, right in that whole flood plain.  This means that a lot of the surrounding areas would be adversely affected by what would otherwsie seem like a localized problem.  Not only that, but Highway 167 is smack dab in the middle of that zone too.  All the people trying to connect through the Valley with I5, Highway 18 and others would clog the other routes!  Did you know that Kent is like the Warehouse capital of the West Coast?  Its true – and do you know where those warehouses are all located?  Are they shining beacons ona  hill?  No silly sabbit, they’re in the Valley!

What are the pluses to having a flood?  If you saw the coverage for the December 2007 flooding in Centralia that shut down parts of I5, then you’d find precious little in the area of flooding.  I mean, even insurance companies are beginning to shut down policies bought to protect from such damage.  But insurance companies insure against the unforeseen – ever sense last year they knew this dam wouldn’t last much longer and it went from bad to worse, to inevitable.  Now all you can get is government issued insurance for the most part.

Sure, the community will become stronger in many senses – but it may face a tragic decline in the process.  Neighbor helping neighbor is one thing.  Its one thing that usually happens after you have helped yourself!  So why would I WANT a flood?  Jealousy maybe?  I mean look at all that media coverage Katrina got down in Louisiana.  Maybe I want to have a helicopter fly over my home with me sitting on the roof with my gun and my dog, guarding over our new beach front landscaping.  I have always wanted a boat!

It could be the want for Judgment, or schadenfreude to see people get what they have coming to them.  Its not unlike someone rebuilding their home in Tornado Alley year after year – why would you intentionally build or buy a house in a flood plain?  Unless they too have dreams of being filmed on their roofs bundled and waiting for the fly-by.

Ultimately I guess I am just eager for some excitement.  Everyone loves a good tragedy, right?  I don’t want anyone to get hurt of course, and I can’t imagine losing all your worldly possessions in the matter of a few hours.  And if there is a flood, all those businesses will be locked up tight and out of operation until they can get them cleaned up and out and mold and mildew free… that’s not going to do much for our local economy.

Well gee, the more I think about it, the more I realize this flood is not a good thing at all.  While I still sit with a nervous twitter in my tummy thinking about it and how I’d respond if I saw a sheet of water heading my way – really I’d probably be the dude you see getting bashed against the side of a building with his own car.  For all my preparedness, it’d be me taking the brunt of the storm.  This story gets worse and worse the more I think about it!  I’m about to write myself into some Ark induced death sentence!

See, THIS is why I don’t like to get out of bed in the morning!

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