500 year flood

So we are having a 500 year flood which actually means every year there is a 1 in 500 chance of having a flood like this, I think. I do not think it means that we won't flood like this for another 500 years. No matter the actual meaning behind the terminology, the water is impressive and it is very dramatic around the ER. Our department head is out of town. The second in command is out of town as well. The doctor in charge is staying here because the bridges are about to close separating him from the ER and when another doctor who lives on this side of the river told him to go home and that he would cover, the response was "This is my natural disaster". Very dramatic indeed. I worked yesterday when they closed most of the major highways. I biked to work today because they are going to close the last bridge across the river separating me from home. I think they are only going to close it to vehicle traffic not pedestrian traffic. I think I did weight watchers right? I am not as heavy as a car. My bike is light weight, I can get across no problem. One of the bridges which has been closed for two days still had people walking across it this morning so I think getting home will be no problem. My last resort is to walk across the really high railroad bridge to get home because the trains have stopped. I think it is too high and I would be really scared but I like to imagine the flood would get that bad that I would have to make that dramatic decision. Then I could talk about it for years. "...during the 500 year flood I have to walk Stand-by-Me style across that railroad bridge after a grueling 12 hour shift in the ER". That is a great story.

I will probably spend most of the day today surfing the internet and trying to look busy because as more roads get closed the only way here is by helicopter. But somehow they still come; the non emergent emergencies. I saw a guy with an ingrown toenail. I wanted to say, "don't you know there is a 500 year flood happening outside?" They are staging ambulances on both sides of the river and soon when the last bridge closes no emergencies from the east side of town will be able to make it to our ER. They will have to go to the private hospital on the east side of town and they are working to make that private hospital's parking lot a helipad to fly people across the river if needed.

Our river is not expected for crest until Tuesday; they are rushing to try to save much of the campus. For some reason (humidity and tornados may be the reasons) our main University library has all its special collection in the basement. 500,000 volumes to move by hand passed up person to person in the stairwells.

The pictures of the flood are impressive. Check out http://www.presscitizen.com/.