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College Station was hit by a massive thunderstorm yesterday. Like all thunderstorms in this part of the country, this one too lasted hardly more than 30 minutes and it was clear (almost) once again. I saw the downpour as soon as I got out of class and decided to stay put mainly because I was carrying my laptop with me. I ventured out as soon the rain gods decided to let up and give us a breather. I walked rapidly along Ross Street dodging puddles on the pavement indicative of faulty design or improper soil testing. At several places, I had to take a running leap in Bo Beamon-esque fashion only to land in another clear puddle. In all American etiquette, I stepped aside a wee bit to let two girls pass only to find my shoes in couple of inches of water where there usually isn’t after a rainfall. Nope, it wasn’t English etiquette because that would have entailed me having to lay out my jacket atop a puddle and I wasn’t gonna do that.
Anyway, I walked along my usual route passing Sbisa Hall and I was surprised to see Houston Street from the cafe to the post office, completely flooded. Students from Hobby and Walton were happily frolicking in the ankle deep water. Couple of girls were wrestling on the damp lawn and contradictory to popular notion, it wasn’t a pretty sight as much irritable screaming was involved. The pavements were literally gushing streams of water from the higher planes down toward the storm water drains. Apparently, Houston St.was the lowest point on this side of campus and couldn’t handle the sudden onrush of water.
Then I stopped and wondered, after all where would all the water go? As far as I remember, apart from the lawn in front of the Architecture building and the Drill Field, I couldn’t recall any natural ground cover that would allow water to seep into the ground. All of it was paving and hard surfaces which just meant immense amounts of water running off into the drains. This is not only causing flash floods like the one on Houston St. but depleting chances of replenishing the ground water table as well. The scenes on Houston St. wouldn’t have been so joyous if the rains had lasted a little longer a la Mumbai cloudburst.
by Patrix | on Thursday, February 2nd, 2006 at 2:41 pm | 
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February 2nd, 2006 at 3:05 pm reply
So you had to dance around the circle to just say “Too much paving ?” Dont you think the ettiquette,
girls fighting is all redundant to the point you are trying to raise ? Or was it to say you are not a geek/nerd and that you too are normal like the rest of us :)
February 2nd, 2006 at 3:43 pm reply
BLog Hopper, if everything were said that dryly, I would neither enjoy writing nor would you enjoy reading it. This was an experience with a “serious” conclusion post.
I have made similar posts here, here, and here