Getting Moist

If you stopped by Rivrdog’s place on Saturday you saw his maps of the rain storm his abode was being assaulted by this last weekend. He had gotten four inches of rain from Thursday until then.

It took us a couple days to get the hit, but in the state to his north, where I live, we got four-plus inches of rain in 18 hours yesterday. But it didn’t stop there; as I write this it is still raining, although a bit lighter.

Rivrdog’s locale continued to get heavy precipitation as well, so that the entirety of the PacNW is now waterlogged and if something isn’t damp, then it hasn’t tried hard enough.

As I was flipping through the local morning newsjockys yesterday, the traffic guy on the Fox affiliate stated very bluntly that, and I paraphrase, “Traffic is atrocious. Just a quick tip, you may want to forget about those five or six cups of coffee and the bran muffin, because you’ll be in your car for a while.”

Most cities have bad traffic, and Seattle is no different. If a bad traffic day in Seattle could be considered a nine or ten, then yesterday went to eleven. Thirty minute commutes went into the region of two hours as the citizenry tried to remember how to drive in a torrent and got to see just how badly their respective cities had managed the street water drainage systems. And with that, I went to sleep in preparation for Monday night at work.

When I awoke in the afternoon it was to news reports of heavy flooding, declared disasters and evacuations, which left me with only one alternative: Grimm. Let me just say that it was a successful first test of his readiness to deal with adverse conditions.

I left around 30 minutes earlier than usual in case of traffic diffculties. I don’t like taking Grimm on the interstate because of his weight and lengthy stopping distance, so I opted for surface streets before even pulling out of the driveway.

Not that my decision amounted to much, The surface streets were still clogged from the morning. In what I had decided was the “safe route” I encountered a 50ft stretch of road that was covered in water up to two feet deep.

Not that it was a problem for Grimm; he’s got 30 inches of clearance from the ground to the floorboards. What was a problem though was “the other people”. I had to come to a stop in around 18 inches of water while some dipshit yuppie broad in a Honda Element stopped halfway through the water obstacle, made a three point turn, and went back the way she came.

When will yuppies learn that 4WD/AWD does not automatically make their vehicle an all-terrain ride? My guess is that she got water in the cabin and freaked out.

After that, I had only to worry about the spots where the water had gone from yard to street, covering the sidewalk and curb. In the dark, with rain coming down faster than my wipers can get rid of it, these jump out and surprise not only you, but the people driving along side you.

Luckily, with Grimm’s weight finally on my side of the equation, I didn’t get either the “pushed into next lane” or “sucked into the maple tree between the road and the sidewalk” action. Though I’m sure the guy in that minivan next-to-and-just-behind me had to clean his drawers after I sent something near 50 gallons of water into his windshield with Grimm’s 13in wide tires.

The rain is supposed continue steadily until Thursday with the high winds subsiding this morning. Which leads me to wonder how it will effect today’s election.

After this test, I have determined that Grimm needs better headlights. Luckily, there is a conversion hit for HID lamps. He could also use a better (read: sealed) air filter can. I spent half the night worrying about water coming into the carb from all the splashing about. Also, the Pro Comp All Terrain tires that came with Grimm do not do so well in the rain. I will probably switch them out for the Pro Comp Mud Terrain style, or something close.

Don Ward at Sound Politics points to study that Dems stay home on rainy days and has called for a raindance.

Unfortunately for Rivrdog, his whole state votes by mail, so there is no doubt that the local elections officials have round-filed his ballot and now eagerly await those of his neighbors.