Date taken: April 1, 2004 | Clifford, Pennsylvania.

Five years ago today: I’m a little late posting this one but five years and about two weeks ago today I found this salamander – who was quite large – sitting on the steps outside of our apartment in Clifford, PA.

Date taken: February 22, 2004 | Clifford, Pennsylvania

Five years ago today: Eliza and I went to look at an apartment in the rural village of Clifford, Pennsylvania. It was a small, two bedroom, one bath place that was the perfect downsize for us at the time. It wasn’t too long before Eliza longed for a proper laundry room, rather than hoofing it through snow to go to the laundromat.

Although the place wasn’t perfect for us forever, I do miss the view.

Date taken: March 31, 2004 | The reluctant celebrity.

We moved. We’ve not heard of anyone having any serious injuries in Clifford but we have heard that it is a major inconvenience having the only road going through it closed.

So, we’re ok – but we’re with you people of Clifford. Hang in there.

[tags]clifford, pennsylvania, bridge, floods, flooding[/tags]
[slug]clifford-bridges[/slug]

Normally, we get hit with flooding a few times a year. Nothing severe usually, since much of the area I live in is thousands of feet above sea level. However, the portions of our area which are in valleys and at the base of large mountains, really end up suffering.

This past week or so, it has been raining non-stop, and very very hard. Imagine a really bad afternoon thunderstorm that rains so hard that leaves come off the trees, limbs break off of trees, and eventually the entire tree comes down. Then, make that stretch on for five days. That is what we’ve been dealing with.

This flood is causing considerable damage, is starting to take lives, and is forcing people out of their homes. I am not sure of the death toll yet, but I think it is near six individuals so far, and it is bound to increase for those that can not evacuate as the run-off continues to flow into the large rivers.

On the fourth day, while the Internet was down here in my area and the rain happened to stop for about seven minutes, I decided to head outside with my video camera to show how much water was pouring off our little mountain. Suffice to say that our area feeds into a slightly larger stream, which leads to a tributary which leads to a river, etc. The people in the low areas, at the end of this line, are the ones that are truly suffering.

Video: Summer Flooding | View on Google Video

I’m releasing this video via BitTorrent. If you do not know how to use BitTorrent, you can read the BitTorrent FAQ & Guide. In a few days I’ll probably release the raw .mov file, but to help with the strain on my host, I am only releasing it this way right now.

If you do download the file via BitTorrent, please consider seeding the file for about three days, as that is how long it generally takes people to get to each of my posts.

A note about the video: For some odd reason, I said “I do not pity those in Sri Lanka”, and that couldn’t be farther from the truth. I believe I meant to say that I do not envy them, or that I do indeed pity them.

Update: I tried to upload the video to YouTube to share with everyone, but the video is about one minute too long, so it was rejected. Pfft. Please let me know if you have any trouble getting the video via BitTorrent.

New Torrent: I updated the torrent a little. If you were having trouble, refresh this page, and download a fresh copy of the torrent. Thanks to those seeding!

Flood photos: Although I wasn’t able to take any photos of the flood, others have.

Google Video: For those of you that have not yet downloaded the video, you can view it on Google Video now. The torrent will remain seeded for the rest of the day. Otherwise, view it on Google by clicking the link or the preview image above.

[tags]video, bittorrent, floods, flood, pennsylvania, clifford, northeast, summer floods, rain, water, river, stream, pond, colindevroe[/tags]