Last Thursday, I had a dentist appointment, and out of idle curiosity (not to mention stalling about actually walking into the office) shot the following pictures of the Rockaway River:

And then, of course, it started raining on Friday. It poured all day Saturday. Rained on Sunday. Drizzled on Monday. Rained on Tuesday. Poured on Wednesday. Rained on Thursday. Showered on Friday . . . all this moisture made me curious. How much had the river risen in a week? So, after I left work but before I came home, I voluntarily drove to my dentist’s office and took these pictures:

Note how in the first pictures, you can actually see the ground of the river bed. One week ago, we were in a drought. I think it’s pretty safe to say that we’re not exactly experiencing drought conditions any more. Morristown has had 10.43″ of rain in the last week; the previous record was of 9.05″ for the month of October in 1995. You can see some articles here, here, here, here, here, and here. And that’s just New Jersey!

If there can be this kind of flooding just from several days of heavy rain . . . widespread throughout the Northeast, and yet confined more to individual houses or small sections of neighborhoods . . . I feel for these people who, yes, just had their houses and their memories washed away. But at least their towns are still here, and the police, the fire department. The grocery stores are still open. And there are neighbors willing to open their houses to help.

Let’s take this moment, shall we, to consider once again the victims from Katrina and Rita? They’ve slipped down the newsstream a bit, but the people themselves are just as much in need as ever–under shelter, yes, but not yet, not nearly recovered. These people lost everything–not just their homes, but their towns, their counties, everything and every place they knew. Let’s not forget them, shall we? And, of course, the Pakistanis are in desperate need after last weekend’s devastating earthquake. American Red Cross. Mercy Corps. Habitat for Humanity. Network for Good. Noah’s Wish. The Humane Society.

I’m reading right now a book called “Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed” by Jared Diamond (author of “Guns, Germs, and Steel”). It’s fascinating–exploring the reasons why some societies failed in the past, or are collapsing now–the Polynesians of Easter Island, the Norse on Greenland, the Maya in Central America, and so on. Environmental factors are huge, as are others, but so, too, are the presence of friendly societies willing to help when things get rough (Iceland’s Norse population survived partly because it was close enough to trade with Europe).

Look at some of the catastrophes we’ve faced lately. The Tsunami in the Indian ocean last December. Hurricane Katrina. The earthquake in Pakistan. Other hurricanes here, and cyclones hitting Japan. Wildfires in California. It behooves us, I think, to be aware that in this age of a shrinking world and greater interdependence, that we all are going to stand or fall together. Ultimately, we’re on one ship here in the universe, and have to rely on each other when the weather goes crazy, when the earth rises beneath our feet, and when flames come falling from the sky. No one society can stand entirely alone, anymore, or aloof from the needs of other, less fortunate societies. We’re all in this together, and you can just never tell when it’s going to be your own turn.

Please give a little.

• Tags: General, Reading, Weather • Permalink:Rockaway River Rising //