Monday, May 15, 2006

What we need is a break in the rain

In Manhattan, we've been getting alarming weather warnings for a week. Three inches! Five inches! Oh, never mind. They've all been called off, which is sort of an emotional roller coaster. Then yesterday, I get this email from the Red Cross:

The Service Area has asked me to survey DSHR members for their Availability for Possible Deployment because of the impending flood situation in New England. You are receiving this e-mail because my records indicate that you have successfully passed your background check and have current First Aid and CPR training.

It is important to know who is available for possible deployment, so that we can assist with the service delivery plan for the affected areas as soon as possible.

A “normal” deployment is 3 weeks, but it is determined by each disaster.

Currently, we are putting together leadership teams to be on alert. No one is being deployed yet. There is no further information available at this time.

This took me completely by surprise. Apparently that water has been going somewhere. Flooding in New England may get as bad as it's been since 1936, according to Reuters. A lot of extreme weather, don't you think?

The blog title is from the (end of the) linked article. It would sound like the setup for a science fiction morality play on industrial hubris and ecological response, if we weren't living in one.

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