Waiting For High Tide

UPDATED: High tide has passed and we dodged a bullet today.  Minor flooding in the backyard and in the front yard.  The biggest issue? Cretins in their jacked up pickup trucks blasting through the water in the street - some going by 6 to 8 times.  Excuse, me, but if you drive a jacked up pickup, in my estimation, your are likely a red neck moron.  I think it is time to build a decorative wall along the sidewalk to act as a barrier from the waves these idiots send towards the house.  Today this was not an issue, but in higher flood tides it is a real problem.

click image to enlarge

Unlike areas to the west and south, most of Hampton Roads has not suffered from super heavy rains.  The main issue has been wind and high tides with this afternoon's high tide expected to nearly reach the level experienced with Hurricane Sandy.  The view above is of our house from across the creek with high tide still 2 and 1/2 hours away.   Normally, we have 5+ feet of rip rap seawall above the water level. 

If  we do not surpass Sandy's levels, we should only have a small amount of water in the garage where the industrial size sump pump will quickly deal with it.  Parts of Norfolk (thankfully, not where my house near ODU is located) have been flooded the last three days.  I will keep folks posted!

Hurricane Sandy - October 29, 2012

UPDATED:  This is a photo of the house taken by a neighbor from across the street:

People may laugh at our homemade flood doors, but, guess what - they work and keep the bulk of the water out.

We definitely dodged a bullet this morning.  Peak high tide has passed and the highest the water got was within about 4-5 inches of coming up over the deck in the back yard.  The water did start leaking into the garage under the flood door to a small extent and happily the new industrial sump pump has kept the water from accumulating in any significant way.  

Perhaps the most maddening thing has been the cretins joy riding up and down the flooded street that cause waves to go out and crash against the houses surrounded by water.  Did the Hampton police do anything to close off the street?  Of course not.  That might involve a shred of common sense.  

The top image is of the backyard looking across the tidal creek.  The first image below is of the side front yard (note the neighbors 3+ foot fence at their driveway is nearly covered).  The bottom image is a scene from the Ghent area of Norfolk a few blocks from my office.  Needless to say, the office is closed today.