Mar 4, 2018 4 min read

The woman in front of the microphone was obviously distraught. She was being interviewed about the recent flooding and her many losses. She always came back to her solution to the problem. She kept saying, over and over, they need to do something. I assumed when she said “they” that she meant the politicians.

Now the group that runs the country down to the local members of the school board might think they have the power to control the weather but between you and me, I don’t think so. The poor lady, she had lived by this stream without it ever being flooded, but now it occurs repeatedly. Why doesn’t the government do something?

A long time ago, I lived in a house that was situated on a flood plain. Each time it stormed the water crept up near the cellar door. After a year of this nonsense I moved, vowing never to live so close to a stream again. It was either move or build an ark.

What can be done to help prevent the increase in flooding? First of all, one needs to face the fact that such damage caused by flooding is expensive to replace or repair. One thing that certainly would help is to not build a house too near a creek or a river.

Dredging a creek or river helps, as does removing all debris. The problem with debris is that it hangs up on bridges or on other stuff already jammed up. Soon they become a problem backing up the water or breaking lose to allow a rush of water to suddenly flow downstream causing all sorts of havoc. Dredging is a common answer to the flooding problem but dredging also kills life living in the streambed. Before any answer can be found one must determine what caused the increase in flooding.

The answer could be simple, as in just too much rain. It doesn’t get simpler than that, but what else makes a hard rain a flooding rain? It has rained since time began and man has been trying to control nature for many years with little success. Now we find this flooding happening more frequently. Perhaps it parallels the development in the neighborhood. After all, blacktop roads don’t allow water to sink into the ground to be a drink for the maple trees. Every roof on every house adds to the runoff, as do patios. Many shopping centers allow immense gallons of water to the runoff. Just think, if housing contributes to flooding it will get worse as more houses are built.

There are two substantial developments in progress or in the planning stages in North Strabane Township, for example. Both will impact the water emptying into little Chartiers Creek. Yes, I know what a retention pond is but are such holding tanks required when a single dwelling is built? I don’t think so, and that single house can be multiplied many times as the township is developed.

Zoning laws are odd. Let’s say a man has chickens that wander around the neighborhood and they stink and ramble about into the neighbor’s yard. Zoning laws protect the neighbor from such goings on and forbid the ownership of chickens in that zone or require a fence. Meanwhile, a person can build a large house upstream from his neighbor, increasing the amount of water flowing downstream – after all, water is supposed to flow downhill.

When looking at flooding, look upstream and remember how it was when the hillside was covered with all those thirsty trees.

• If anyone were to ask me what the most popular scope is, or more importantly was, I would have to say the 3 x 9 Leupold. I would think more of this model and make has been sold over the last 30 years than any other. I used to tell potential buyers to purchase a Leopold 3 x 9 Vari-x2 and then buy a rifle with the money that is left. There are few products as reliable as this scope sight. Now, I hear Leopold is dropping both the Vari-x 1 and 2 from its line. They better have something good up their sleeve for the old Vari-x is going to be hard to beat.