Flooding

On Monday it rained like hell here in New Orleans. It rained eight inches over the course of the day on Monday, and because we live below sea level, it flooded. We have pumps for situations like these, but the rain fell so hard and fast that it outpaced the bailing efforts. Underpasses became lakes, with cars acting as small islands. It was pretty amazing. I had to go downtown to take a make up exam (last week I think I got food poisoning, this week I have ankle tendinitis, but that is a different story) and I was afraid that the truck would not make it there and back in one non-soggy piece. I wisely assumed that the shuttle which I usually take would not be running, as it is dang low to the ground. I latter discovered that this was in fact true, so I made the right choice, and the car and I were fine. In fact, Tulane canceled classes in the afternoon at both the uptown and downtown campuses, as people could not get to classes. This of course happened AFTER I braved the rainstorm, sigh. Anyway, Here are some visuals to give you an idea what it looked like.

Here is a photo I took in the truck on my way to school. Those cars are on a raised driveway, I think the water was about 6 inches here.

No, that is not the asphalt, that's the river in front of our house at 1:15 on Monday, as I was leaving.

I wish I could take credit for this one, but I can't. I have to give credit to my public health buddy Alana and her roommate (who actually took the photo on her camera in front of their house).