Yesterday afternoon's storm turned the sky pitch black and caused a down pour that made seeing the road a challenge at best. There were spectacular flashes of lightening and booming claps of thunder that you could feel down to your bones. The down pours of rain left all but the leftmost lanes practically impassable. Between the pouring rain, flash flooding streets, accidents and general traffic it was amazing that I made it to pick the boys up on time. I left a little late to start with and then had an unusual request in the parking lot to drive a coworker to their car on the roof because it was raining too hard to make a run for it that far away with a laptop without a case. Luckily we all made it home safely and even into the house during a rare lull in the storms.
By the time we went to bed the rain had diminished to on again, off again light showers. When I woke up this morning I had no idea that the rain had continued on dropping 14 inches of rain over us according to the accumulation map. I also wasn't aware of the massive flooding and school closings. I blithely headed in to my Dentist's appointment completely unaware.
When I arrived I was told by the doctor that receptionist and hygienists were running late due to the weather. I spent a moment contemplating what he meant by that after gazing outside to see overcast skies, but nothing more ominous. The receptionist came in about that time and regaled myself and another patient with a report on her trek to work - having to try route after route due to street flooding and closed roads. And how lucky she was that someone could keep her kids given that school was out. There were apparently quite a few school closings. Luckily our school wasn't among them as I was at the dentist and I can only imagine what Kevin would have done had he arrived at school to drop them off and found it closed.
My actual dentists appointment was slightly worse than I expected. The final verdict - a dead tooth requiring a root canal, a crown, two inlays, two fillings, and a wisdom took extraction. Though I suppose it sounds worse than it actually is. I knew I lost a filling and I suspected part of a tooth a month or so ago. I also knew from my last trip to the dentist far too long ago that I had at least 3 old silver fillings which I have probably had for about 20 years, 10 years longer than their life expectancy, that would need to be replaced. I could also feel the wisdom tooth coming in and remembered having only had 3 of the 4 pulled previously. In high school maybe? So really the only surprise was the dead tooth. That one came out of left field. I didn't even know that teeth were technically alive and could even die. Apparently they can. And when they do they leave a dark black shadow on the x-ray where they are infected and festering. They also turn a bit yellow. I had noticed the color change though I can't say for sure when it happened.
After the dentist's appointment after checking with Kevin to see if daycare was open or if I needed to take care of the kids I headed into work. I was shocked as I approached Faulkey Gully - a bridge just before the turn into work that is normally not much bigger than a trickle some 20 feet below the level of the bridge. Only this morning it was to within inches of the bridge. Flood stage. As I parked near the top of the parking garage I took a minute to survey the damage and even took a few pictures because it really was shocking to see just how high the water was compared to its normal level. Here are a few of the photos I took. In a week or so assuming the rains abate and things return to normal by then I will try take pictures from the same spot for comparison.
Faulkey Gully from the HP garage
Faulkey Gully bridge - water just below the bridge
The truck parking lot next to the garage
A 6ft fence halfway under water on the other side of the garage.
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