as a former grand rapidian who still has friends and family in the area and visits regularly, i’m not sure how i missed that there was record flooding along the grand river ( and presumably elsewhere ). it looks pretty serious but i assume we’re not talking 1904 flood serious. any reports from the streets?
update: someone sent me a link to a crazy picture taken at the riverfront plaza. wow!
i decided to bail on work after getting 4" of rain in 2 hours just a wee bit concerned that i’d get stranded with no clear route home. i didn’t know it at the time, but the roads were officially "closed" adn nobody had time to put up signs.
they say you really shouldn’t drive over water running over a roadway because it’s always moving faster than you think. it’s hard to tell from this photo but the water was moving at a pretty good clip.
i decided to wait and see if the jetta on the other side made it over.
it did, so i went for it, which – really – is The Wrong Decision.
there was an impressive amount of debris across the road a little further down the way from a stream that turned into a torrent and jumped its banks. even more impressive how quickly crews were cleaning it up. thankful i didn’t try to drive through the deluge any sooner and found myself at that spot when the debris came crashing through.
and doubly happy that i didn’t find myself on this hill when the torrent of water coming down the hillside decided to follow the path of least resistance. phew!