Morning all. It is always fun writing in a new place, but at the moment everyone is still sleeping so off we go.
Not bad, although I need to turn down the volume on my timer’s alarm.
Monday, March 10th: The waters were rising.
The waters were rising. The rains in the far north rose the river levels to unprecedented heights. The river was swollen and running fast. The banks had been reenforced. Layers upon layers of sandbags were added. The floodwalls extended as much as possible and the spill ways opened. Now the spill ways ran like rivers, taking the excess water from the river where possible. It still wasn’t enough.
Thus far they controlled the flow and kept the flooding to a minimum, but the waters were still rising.
Gary did the calculations in his head. Not liking the numbers he used pen and paper. They were the same. He pulled his calculator over to double check his math.
The numbers didn’t change. Given the current rate of rising water, they had two days before they ran out of ways to hold the water back. He ran a hand though his hair and leaned back in his chair. The chair gave a disturbing squeak protesting the torture. He ignored it and tried to think.
The mayor didn’t want an evacuation. He claimed it would be a political disaster. The Police chief didn’t want an evacuation because he thought it would be a logistical nightmare. As the city engineer, he knew that they had two days before disaster struck and they had a choice between getting people out of the way and letting property be destroyed or seeing half of the town dead.
He also knew that the other two would protest such an action until the very end. Gary swore softly to himself. The swear had no heat. After weeks of battling he had no strength behind the words. He knew both men were voted in because they had no ambitions to change anything. They were do nothing appointees. The people liked them because there were no changes either wanted to implement. As they had a run of ambitious police chiefs clashing with ambitious mayors all the residents were looking for was calm stability. They need to catch their breaths.
However it meant the two men in office, didn’t want to do anything when it was clear something needed to be done. ‘But it will be chalked up to an engineering failure and I will be blamed,’ he knew. ‘I also don’t want to see hundred’s dead.’
Gary decided it was time to make the call. He would call it a temporary relocation to make it sound better, but people needed to get out of the path the waters needed to take. He leaned forward and took a deep breath. He dialed City hall and after a wait where he could be assured that the mayor was a busy man, he left no room for argument.
“I am calling you to let you know I will be calling for a temporary relocation of the area,” Gary told him. There was the expected waffling and arguing, but Gary held firm and merely gave the mayor the timeline. He then gave the chief a curtesy call and a list where his officers were needed. He then pressed forward with the notification of news outlets, school districts and anyone he could think of.
However he phrased it, it was still an evacuation. However his plan was steady and allowed for an orderly evacuation. People grumbled, but they loaded their cars with their most precious items. No one was forced to leave pets behind and soon enough all things living were evacuated from the area. The water kept rising and not two hours after the last of the people were evacuated, the water broke through, sweeping away all in it’s path.
Ten til Midnight 