Isn't It a Shame?

Wow -- I'd heard that the flooding along the Saint John River was quite bad this year, but I didn't really appreciate just how crazy it was until today. My dad sent along a few pictures that a neighbour took of our beach.

For anyone who hasn't been to my cottage, the house itself, named Top 'O Rock, is at the top of quite a tall and steep bank of the river, probably a good 100-130 feet above water. My dad and his family lived up the street at 'Ingleside', and my dad took care of the property at Top O Rock for the older lady who owned the place. When she was getting on in life she sold the place to my dad, and my dad's owned it and worked to maintain and improve the place over the years.

One of the things my dad did was put in a long winding very natural rock "staircase" down from the cottage through the trees down to the small beach we have at the waterfront. A number of years ago, in a controversial family move one of my uncles "upgraded" the waterfront by adding a large concrete patio thing, probably ~12-14 feet tall, with a number of wood / concrete steps down to the water.

The river is tidal, and the water usually goes up and down maybe 2 feet in height. Most springs during runoff the water levels are particularly high and may go up an extra 6 feet or so. This year, the entire concrete patio is totally underwater by several feet meaning the water level of the river itself is up probably as much as 13-16 feet above normal. And here's the thing -- the river is more than a mile wide, and forks off into another large river that's probably another 100km long. To raise the water level that much, across such a huge river would literally require enough water to fill thousands and thousands of olympic swimming pools....it really boggles the mind.

The pictures won't likely mean anything to anyone other than Richard and Laura, but here they are...

Labels: Cottage, Flood