Who'll stop the rain?

Even as much of WV tries to muck its way out of the 2016 flood, more rain is hitting the Mountain State. In some areas already hit, flash flood watches have turned to warnings. On the brighter side, the estimated death toll is down to 23 from yesterday's estimate of 25.

Here's some good coverage from the Charleston Gazette-Mail.

For those who want to contribute to flood relief, here are two credible agencies (admittedly out of many others): Catholic Charities and WV VOAD (Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster).

People who want to get directly involved have been encouraged to register with Volunteer WV rather than self-deploy, although that hasn't stopped plenty of people and groups.

As is almost always the case, the disaster has also brought out the best in many people. I'm reminded of the book  A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities that Arise in Disasters by Rebecca Solnit (see earlier Goat Rope post here). Here's one story about how hundreds of people stranded at a shopping plaza in Elkview got treated to an epic cookout by Kroger's employees.

I guess it was another case of making lemon-aid. Or cheeseburgers.

Here's hoping WV gets through the night with minimal additional damage.

On the bright side...

In yesterday's post, I speculated darkly on whether modern civilization is heading towards some kind of major downturn due to inaction on climate change and such. Since this is Thanksgiving week and all, I thought it only fitting to give a shout out to a look at the bright side of disasters.

Recently a friend loaned me a copy of A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities that Arise in Disasters by Rebecca Solnit. The author makes the interesting argument that sometimes when disasters happen, people respond with the courage, compassion, generosity, mutual aid and solidarity all too rarely seen in ordinary life.

I've noticed something like that in less drastic interruptions of ordinary life, such as major snowstorms, power outages and floods. As unpleasant as such things can be, people often come together in amazing ways and can have a good time doing it.

So even if things get bad, which I hope they won't, it might not be all bad all the time. I guess we can be thankful for that.

NOTE: I'm off this week. Posts will appear as usual but without the links and comments.