From Gurgling to Raging
Last week, the weather reports, once again, were forecasting heavy winds and driving rain throughout the weekend. As it turned out, this was no idle threat because what arrived was one stubborn storm, bringing with it, hurricane force winds and torrential downpours. I felt extremely fortunate that the Bedford area was spared any great damage because so many surrounding locals were hit extremely hard. Huge trees were toppled, homes were wrecked, electricity was lost, and low-lying areas were badly flooded. I was also deeply saddened to hear of loss of life associated with this storm.
On Saturday evening, when the winds subsided, I took a drive around my farm to survey any damage, which was minimal. What was impressive were all of the streams on my property. After more than five-inches of rain that fell in a very short period of time, those gurgling rivulets became raging torrents. I shot these photos at around 8 PM. How did you fare during this storm? We’d love to hear.
1 This raging brook is normally a gurgling little rivulet.
2 In many places, the water ran way over the banks and onto surrounding woods and fields.
3 In this photo, you can clearly see the raging waters flooding the woods.
4 This is a very deep pool that formed - the rising river waters swept sticks and twigs from the banks, towards their ultimate destination - the Cross River Reservoir.
5 The churning waters were quite muddy from all of the erosion, caused by the heavy rains and high winds.
6 The little bright dots you see are actually illuminated rain drops, caused by the light of the camera flash.
7 When the water rushes like this, I wonder what becomes of the small fish that live in the shallows of the streams. Do they, too, wash down to the reservoir?
8 In dry weather, there is no stream, whatsoever, here. These low areas become small rivulets to accomodate the flowing water from the rains and the drains.
The rain and wind was definitely something fierce. It rattled a few cages here in maine as torrential down pours. Luckily kno one was hurt! I hope your careful.. lol taking pictures at 8pm. Outside! Your as bad as I am.
http://www.meandmartha.net Thanks again martha! Your very speacial.
Dan Viger
Hollis center maine
Posted by: Daniel viger | March 16th, 2010 at 1:04 am
My family in Beverly, MA has a foot of water in the basement and my nephew in Georgetown, MA had 1 1/2 feet of water and had to call the fire department for help. Now they don't have heat and the power is out.
Posted by: The Frugal Fraulein | March 16th, 2010 at 2:19 am
I'm glad you were spared the damage that other parts of the northeast endured. Here in the central coast area of California we are fortunate to have had more rain than in abt. 15 years so we are also seeing rivulets at least where begier there was nothing.
Posted by: Elizabeth Gage | March 16th, 2010 at 2:23 am
All I can say is thank God it wasn't colder that would have all been snow!!! I live in South Jersey (exit 4 of the NJ Tpk.) and the winds and rain Saturday were just horrible. We live 1 house off the lake and there is a finger pond that comes between our property and our neighbor, that looked like the lake. We just cleaned up all the tree limbs and broken shrubs from the last snow and will need to get back out there when it stops raining again. We have mostly fallen tree limbs but were lucky that we didn't have any major flooding.
Posted by: Ann | March 16th, 2010 at 6:40 am
It was windy and rainy on Saturday with rain on Sunday and Monday in the Philadelphia suburbs. The creeks were very full. The Saturday winds were very strong. What a weekend after such a snowy and cold February. I have not heard of any loss of life. I did see fallen tree limbs and branches.
Posted by: Teresa Touey | March 16th, 2010 at 8:03 am
Central Jersey was hit pretty hard, thank goodness we are not to close to the Crosswicks Creek because it was up over it's banks. We have many large oak trees around our house and we lost a lot of limbs but we were lucky that none of them hit our house.
Bernadette
Posted by: Bernadette | March 16th, 2010 at 8:42 am
From Chatham on Cape Cod, we had very high winds(lots of loud banging and crashing overnight Saturday!),and driving rain and some property damage....an old chimney blew off the house, the stockade fance around the terrace is blown down, and an arbor is broken and down, not to mention many branches. The ground is so wet that trees were easily toppled. The National Seashore beaches have taken a major hit this winter, and it will cost 100's of thousands of dollars to fix boardwalks and beach access, if at all. What we experienced is minor compared to the terrible flooding which is happening now just off-Cape north and south of Boston. I did hear yesterday from clients in CT and the damage is so sad. Many without power, too.
Thank you for your thoughtful post.
Posted by: Marcia | March 16th, 2010 at 9:04 am
Dakota winters are known as a real test of character and every storm is different. Fifty Foggy mornings in succession this year is very unusual but today the morning is bright and filled with blue skies and the sun may melt a little of 2 foot banks of same snow that has been on the ground since October so we believe that spring always comes.
Posted by: ann | March 16th, 2010 at 9:30 am
In your current issue of Living a page was devoted to framing black and whites using multi-colored matting. I tore the page out, then lost it and wondered if you could provide me with the website that was listed in the magazine about where to purchase the matting? Thank you.
Posted by: Angela | March 16th, 2010 at 10:37 am
Hi Martha,
I knew there was a bad storm coming your way and wondered on Sunday how everything was on the farm. I'm glad to know there was no damage considering all the wind and rain but sorry to hear that some of the locals weren't as lucky. We had a lot of rain in Florida too but no strong winds. This is the coolest winter we've had in a long time but pretty soon we'll be complaining about the heat again! Have a great week. Trish
Posted by: Trish | March 16th, 2010 at 10:44 am
Storms are dangerous, yet beautiful to see from a safe observation point (of course, cleaning up after even a mild one is less fun!)
Posted by: Eliza B. | March 16th, 2010 at 11:22 am
Thank goodness everything was ok on the farm. I can't imagine what you look like out there taking pictures in the rain you crazy lady! I'm near Chicago and it rained, rained, rained all last week. My yard is mush! I'd like to get a tiny raft for my little weenie dog... glorious sunshine today though!
Martha, thanks so much for having Rachel on the show today. She's a fellow dreamer and I just know her business will boom even more now!
Posted by: NeatNicole from Illinois | March 16th, 2010 at 11:29 am
Martha,
You are going to turn into one of the "old timers" soon and relate the weather to how the year goes. Humbling and as they say "no rest for the wicked" or something to that effect regarding there is always more work to do.
Thanks for showing us the running water and wondering about the fish. Don't forget about safe water coves for nesting ducks.
Posted by: Margie | March 16th, 2010 at 2:09 pm
Hi Martha, All of you there in the Bedford area certainly were the lucky ones during that outrageous storm. Loved your photos of the normally calm brooks on your farm. Those small rivulets looked more like bigger rivers with rapids. Did you take any photos of the farm during the daytime? Would love to see those, too. We have had some outrageous storms here in the Puget Sound area over the years with strong winds and heavy flooding, also. Glad things have calmed down and hope the coming of spring will bring much better weather for all of us. It was actually 68 degrees at my place yesterday and it did feel just like spring. Haven't seen today's 'Martha TV Show' yet, but know it will be great! Love, Jan
Posted by: Jan Erickson | March 16th, 2010 at 4:04 pm
there are lots of trees down in my neighborhood in New Dorp Staten. Island.
Many beautiful pines are lost as well as maple trees. lost power for about 18 hrs . happy no one was injured hre
Posted by: nancy damaini | March 16th, 2010 at 5:44 pm
I am happy to see that you are keeping your cool.
Posted by: Linda | March 16th, 2010 at 8:11 pm
I love the photos - like Marc Jacobs campaign a few years back. Very Ominous
Posted by: Norbie | March 16th, 2010 at 8:58 pm
This storm must have bumbled it's way into Canada because here in Ontario (just west of Toronto) it still raged. Stupid, stupid storm. It uprooted my 16 ft. high Japanese Nootka, gave birth to a leak in the roof over my mudroom, and forced me to wear my rubber boots for 2 days straight - which make my feet sweaty and stinky. Bad, bad storm.
Posted by: TheArtofDoingStuff | March 16th, 2010 at 10:36 pm
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Hi Martha,
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First, "Martha Stewart teaches, experiences, adventures, energizes, beautifies, overcomes, towers, empowers, and inspires a planet load population, perfectly."
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-----Enjoying The Air All Around You
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Second, For flooding, I kept the original dirt floor and large boulders along the edges of my hand dug cellar. Cement extends down the middle. If there is ever water buildup, the sump pump and natural gravel floor sides drain everything nicely and naturally. The house is also set on the highest point in town so the rain runs down the fields and into the lily pond to river.
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Northern Massachusetts towns and even the nearby Taunton River is cresting now.
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A firefighter friend delivered stories last night of all day rescues of elderly in Brockton. ALSO, pump and dump companies are cashing in on the needy's misfortune left and right. Compassion for sale......
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AND the Weimaraners got into someone's floating garbage. Walgreens came to the rescue and donated hydrogen peroxide for 'reversal effects' and activated charcoal to absorb dangerous toxins from their organs.
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All is well. The troupe is back on all fours cocking their heads at red headed woodpeckers, newly settling into their spring nesting trees!
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Have a wonderful evening!
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Enjoying the air all around you.......
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A and Weims
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Posted by: Unleashed Mouth | March 16th, 2010 at 11:30 pm
Unfortunately here in nearby Chappaqua, we were pretty unlucky! After having been without power for 5 days from the recent snowstorm, we went without power again for another 5 days due to this rainstorm. Both outages necessitated a hotel stay for us, since I have young twin toddlers and it was simply too cold in the house and their need for fresh milk means we definitely need refrigeration if nothing else!
What a mess.
Thank God it seems that the power crews from Con Ed and from many other utility companies all over the country were finally able to address all of the outages. Now I get to complete the process of submitting claims to my insurance company for all the damage and costly upheaval to our lives. The important thing is that we're safe, at least!
Posted by: Cynthia Schames | March 19th, 2010 at 9:28 pm
Glad to see you were spared of any storm damages. We had a lot of down trees in my surrounding area of New York. Family in Westport, CT were without power for five days. We're all glad everyone is safe.
Posted by: Alexis | March 23rd, 2010 at 11:23 pm