When Floods Are Fun

Looking north on Wilmot. Where did the mountains go?

Floods can be horrible, destructive things. I know this. Even here in Tucson, people occasionally die in washes and rivers during flash floods. Sabino Canyon was massively damaged by flooding a year ago, with 70-year-old bridges destroyed. And let's not even talk about the flooding that comes with hurricanes.

Police direct traffic at Broadway and Wilmot

But the kind of flooding we've had in Tucson this weekend isn't one of those bad ones, at least, not as far as I know. We've have 1.55 inches of rain in the past 48 hours, but the worst thing I've seen happen because of it was the traffic lights out at Broadway and Wilmot.

A temporary "river" at St. Michael's waters the plants

As if in defiance of my entry of last night, today's weather did not follow the usual pattern of blue sky in the morning, a buildup of clouds and then rain in the late afternoon and evening. It rained at 6:30 AM or so, something I discovered when nervous Tuffy came into the bedroom and woke me up by standing on my hair. That rain stopped after a while, but started up again in the early afternoon, and ended about an hour before sunset.

I set out around 3 PM in the car, looking for things to photograph, but it was still raining, and so I didn't want to slog my way to the Pantano River on foot. So I headed out to 5th and Wilmot, and got a few pictures of the flooding at St. Michael's - always a good time.

This shot's for you, Becky. Drainage at St. Michael's.

I set out around 3 PM in the car, looking for things to photograph, but it was still raining, and so I didn't want to slog my way to the Pantano River on foot. So I headed out to 5th and Wilmot, and got a few pictures of the flooding at St. Michael's - always a good time. The parking lot at St. Michael's drains into some kind of sewer thing or drainage ditch, but it doesn't make much difference when it rains and inch and a half in two days!

Flooding at Fifth & Wilmot, near the Crosswalk of Death

See? There's serious flooding in the road and on the sidewalk, just steps away from that culvert, including a little bit of whitewater rapids.

"Safeway Pond"

One last picture for tonight. This has been at the edge of the Safeway shopping center for several days, I think. It really does look like a deliberate pond, kind of pretty and peaceful. If this were Manlius, it would be the right size for a skating rink. No chance of that here! But taking pictures of the monsoon is more fun than ice skating, anyway.

Karen