C-Forum

I've been keeping an eye on this Frances storm since last week after we dried up from that last rainfall here in Richmond. That's a whole lot of water it's dumping and the system is moving REAL slow . I gotta be honest in saying that I am not looking forward to having this system come up because it looks like it's gonna lock onto the Appalachian mountains and may flash flood a WHOLE lot of towns in those mountains and valleys. A flooded James River here in Richmond is always something I look forward, but these storms are just plain devastating.

A lot of you from the mid-altlantic areas are old enough to remember Camille and Agnes back in '69 and "73 (?). Those systems just DRENCHED the mountains in Virginia, North Carolina, West Virginia, and Maryland. Lots of devastation and record floods from thoses years. I'm worried that Frances is gonna do the same thing to those towns, again. Add this to last year's Isabel and this years Gaston (we're still recovering from last year here in Richmond and just started cleaning up from last week) and we are in for more SLAMMING! And we don't get hit by these storms like Florida and the Gulf coast states do.

How are others feeling about this storm season? Thanks for the chance to vent and whine.

Be safe,
KNeal

that's the first time I have heard a boater hoping that the rain would NOT hit, kneal. But i imagine I would feel the same way if I lived in Richmond this year. I'm not sure how I feel about this storm season. I just wish I could personally control the flow on the Potomac, Blackwater and Big Sandy! Speaking of the Potomac, you can still see some of the metal railings in the river from the foot bridges that were washed away in the flood (Agnes?) of 1972. There has also been some absurdly localized flooding in Vermont this summer. A chunk of main road is currently missing up in Bristol. Anyway, good luck getting through the storm.
Alden

Honestly, I can't wait...I'm within about 45 mintues of some quality runs (Horsepasture, Whitewater, Thompson, Toxaway, Cullisaja) and not to far from the Smokies and Chatanooga...What sucks the most is that I have class all week!
In all seriousness, I hope we get some good rain so I can go boating, but I hope it's not severe flash flooding all over the southeast. I heard we are supposed to get anywhere from 6" to a foot of rain here in the mountains of western NC. We'll see...
Will

uhh...i meant cullasaja...

and you meant "the curiously strong fowler creek" too, right?
haha
Alden

.Don't misunderstand me. I moved to where I live now so I can be just walking disance from the James when it floods and I hope to be out there when it does come up. Like Will, I hope the towns in the Appalachian Mountains and valleys do not get hit with flash floods. My lament comes from remembering Camille, Agnes, and Isabel's devastation--coupled with last week's INCREDIBLE 12 inches of rain in approximately 6 hours and how that shut the whole area down (caught us off-guard).

Should I be in town after Frances and (possibly) Ivan passes through and the James is running, call me about paddling. I'll probably post a river level update if anyone wants to go. Right now, my wife and I are supposed to go to the Outer Banks next week--depending on what Ivan does. Naturally, I'll be taking my Viper. Should be really good conditions for surfing .

KNeal

I'm in a weird spot on the river. It's best here at low water so I love a drought. We do have a quick little creek run , but it takes a whole lot of rain over a short period of time to make it runnable. Then you have to find someone willing to go (I don't do this one alone ).

We're also WAY downstream & if Frances dumps the amount of rain that they are forecasting, there will be a bunch of flooding in the coastal plain, not just the peidmont & mountains.

If the James and/or Appomattox are up the weekend of the 18/19th I'm up for paddling. It'll be a good warm up for the Gauley .

Personally I'm quite releaved (so far) at this year's storm season. The 1st 3 named storms came through without impact to our network. Last year, Isabelle really put us to work . Almost half of our staff is in Florida now getting the network back up.

Well, now we had multiple threats from tornado-ripe conditions on Wednesday around the Richmond area, especially along the east coast. One tornado did quite a bit of damage in the Bowling Green area north of Richmond and some damage was sustained in King William County. The James has got quite a bit of water coming down from the mountains (nothing around flood stage), so I'll be out Friday and hopefully Saturday in my Viper. Lots of rain and flooding in North Carolina and Tennessee. Maybe Mike W. can update us?

Ivan is on the way towards Florida and it's keeping its reputation as "Ivan the terrible". hades of a season we're having this year. Please keep the storm victims in your thoughts and prayers as we enjoy the fruits of the water levels.

KNeal

P.S. Paddle hard, surf every wave, squirt every eddy, play every wave/hole, and stay safe.

Here are some photos of the French Broad (Near Asheville, NC) @ 40,000cfs.

http://boatingbeta.com/~wcp/newsletter/ ... 5.shtml#m6

On another note, Florida is keeping our guys another week. By then Ivan will have torn up everything that they've fixed. So, I'm on call next weekend too. That means that the only warm up I'll get for the Gauley is stinkin' flat-water at Aluminum Nationals this weekend . Anybody else doing Aluminum?

well, frances really kicked up the potomac this weekend. it was really pretty funny -- we got almost no rain around here, but the headwaters came up, so there was a "bubble" coming down the potomac from upstate, almost like a release river. it got up a little over 7ft I think on Friday. some large surf waves and lots of big trees popping up in whirlpools. little falls feels like videos ive seen of the grand canyon.
Alden