Ain't No Rest for the Weary

I got back at 6 from my first (and hopefully not last) shift with Harpur's Ferry. The interview process has gone through 3 tiers of interviews and over 250 applicants. This final part, a six hour ride shift is the last part where they narrow it down from 25 to about 10-12.
I think mine went great. I had a lot of fun, its a really cool group down there. Technically there was only 4 people on call but when I went in at midnight there were probably 15 people there hanging out.
Getting involved with EMS is like the best decision I have ever made. From the point last year during backcountry medicine when I decided I wanted to look into it, actually doing it is EXCEEDING my expectations. It is amazing how much I retained, and how useful BC was. I was on call, and knew so much about the acroynms and names already and it felt great. Before all of this I was very shaky around the thought of blood, and hearing all these insane medical terms was totally lost on me. On the ambulance doing a rig check with Tristan and Nate, seeing all the equipment, and recognizing a lot of it, I was so excited at the prospect of getting to the point where all this was secondhand like for them. As they are telling story upon story of calls here and in their home towns, I was eating it up.
Although its never good to have a call, I was grateful that I got to see some action while I was there. We had a call to a local nursing home, for an 94 year old woman who had fallen. We got there and found her on the floor with a pool of blood around her head. While Mike did the assessment, I held her head stable while Brandon bandaged her, and then we rolled her onto a backboard. It was very exciting, to be a part of it. It literally was a real life application of BC, and it felt very satisfying to apply the things I had learned and put them to use.
The last few hours of the shift were spent helping Alexandra study for Bio, and drinking more coffee then I have ever had. I am so wired now, and its going to continue because I can't sleep until 1030 tonight after my Calc 3 test but I FUCKING LOVE THIS! Even though I have had to piss three times already in the last half hour. Have you ever been so happy and confident with what you are doing with your time? It's like getting a hit of ecst every time I move on to the next thing on the schedule, I am so busy with all these things I love.
I'll find out if I am hired next sunday. Harpur's Ferry is literally one of the best more selective collegiate services in the country. We are one of the very few who have an actual ambulance, and I am pretty sure the only one with full ALS. Most collegiates are in their own words "glorified bandaid givers, " but HF is the best. It is actually more stringent and advanced then the Vestal, and Chenango EMS. ie The actual EMS services for our region. You should see the office. Harpurs ferry has its own building and garage, fully stocked, with 2 full ambulances with ALS, and 2 flycars. Thats more then most small towns.
I have to go pee again. And then get ready for class soon. HAHAHAHA

PS. I love how I deleted my facbook a while ago and as soon as that happens, pandora changes their layout to try something new...that looks just like facebook. I mean really, what is a music feed. And what happened to all my bookmarked songs? There is a difference between 'liking' something and wanting it to play again, and wanting to bookmark something to catalog it away in the ol illegally download at some point pile.
Btw, its 1:30 in morning right now. I didn't even have time to eat today. This was my lunch:

Notice I didn't say that I was opposed to this fact

But its all ok, because I am on vacation. We have thurs and friday off for some random reason. I only have one class tomorrow, and all my classes on wed have been canceled already.
Time for some chillage. I've been awake for 38 hours and honestly while 20-24 was absolutely horrible, once I hit 30 hours I think my body resolved that this was how it was going to be.

Binghamton Susquehanna Flooding Part 4: updates

Update:
"- A letter from President Magrath

As I’m sure you know by now, tragic flooding has once again struck the Southern Tier as it did just five years ago. This time, the floods affected a much broader geographical region and displaced even more families than it did in 2006. As the flood waters begin to recede, we are left once again with the devastating aftermath and the opportunity to reflect upon how Binghamton University and the Southern Tier have become partners, in both good times and bad.

This morning, I had the opportunity to tour the emergency operations centers at the Events Center and West Gym. Of all the lessons learned on a university campus, none has quite the impact of the one playing out there right now. What I observed impressed me so deeply that I wanted to take a moment to share what I saw there today. Faculty, staff and students were filling plates for the evacuees and setting up cots for their temporary residence on the gym floor. Community members — some of whom were displaced from the flood themselves — worked diligently to maintain a clean, organized facility and provide toiletries for people who no longer have the luxury of showering in their own homes. Volunteers from the American Red Cross and state and federal agencies worked in unison to provide essential services to more than 1,800 individuals. Meanwhile, supplies arrived by truck and by car, some of which were then quickly reloaded onto two Blackhawk helicopters, which thundered away to deliver them to another nearby shelter that had become a virtual island, inaccessible by other means.

Looking over rows and rows of families lying on cots, some thoughts came to mind.  While no one is happy by any means, they are all content that their essential needs are being met. Evacuees flash a friendly smile as a volunteer delivers diapers or a blanket. A dozen kids romp on each other with swords made of tied balloons, while a physics professor performs magic tricks. The Harpur Jazz Ensemble played from above to lighten the mood across the Events Center and finished to earnest applause from the audience. There were, indeed, many bright spots like this among the darkened skies.

Although Binghamton’s main campus was largely spared in the flooding, the University Downtown Center suffered significant damage and will be out of commission for an unknown amount of time. Classes have already been cancelled for two days as well as through the weekend, and there will be countless inconveniences as students, faculty and administration recalibrate their course schedules, classrooms are moved and facilities are occupied by evacuees or re-purposed to support the recovery efforts. 

With that in mind, I ask for your continued patience as we continue meeting the needs of our community. Though the timeline and challenges before us may be somewhat opaque, we expect to begin tracking back toward our primary academic mission early next week. I’d also like to extend my gratitude and admiration to those folks — you know who you are — who have contributed to this colossal endeavor in ways for which I cannot compensate. It is at these moments that I am both humbled and proud to serve as president here. And I am proud of the individuals — from both campus and community — who work tirelessly to support the needs of the Southern Tier. It is at these moments when the proof is truly in the pudding. 

Cordially,

C. Peter Magrath"

Update: A few fires have broken out across the Triple Cities area as well. The good news is that the flood waters isolate them somewhat so hopefully they have not been spreading. The bad news is that the fire department can't reach the houses due to the water so there is not much that can be done right now. If anyone has any information about more current developments, contact me and I will post them.

Road closings for saturday

A boil water advisory is in affect until further notice.
A conserve water order has been issued for Broome County until further notice.

10 am-Johnson City residents are asked to refrain from using water the next few hours as firefighters respond to a fire on Crocker Ave.
County Updates

3pm -A lot of people are asking about the "PetCo incident" so here is the link.
Here are some really comprehensive aerial photos of the whole region, along with some cool shots of the helicopters used. Link to facebook album

Binghamton Susquehanna Flooding Part 3

aNext I went across the 201 bridge again into JC. I went via Floral to get around the flooding on the first half mile of Riverside and then cut back across to Riverside and tried to get as far down as I could. I got to Riverside and Front St intersection, passing a lot of people evacuating on the way. This intersection was the farthest you could get.

memorial bridge, covered in water

Two riverside houses at the very end of front street

A few hundred feet down Riverside Drive is a large apartment complex. When I was in this area they were in the process of evacuating it, with only a few dozen or so people left in the building. They were all leaving on this rickety old 'bridge' made of random debris and two by fours that spanned about 6 feet between the back entrance and dry land. I earned my Boyscout badge by grabbing a box some woman was trying to carry over so she get over easier, and ended up spending about twenty minutes carrying stuff that was being salvaged and helping a few people get across the bridge. It was one of the best experiences of the day.
I got a call from my friend Kevin who lived about a mile away in Johnson City. They were away from the floodwaters, but the rain had flooded their basement. They had no hot water, and it was likely that they would lose power as there were rumors of cutting power to the west side. I went over to their house for a little while to talk to them as they got their stuff out. He has a bunch of pictures as well. I guess they went up Front street to the river walk, around ten this morning when the waves were just starting to crest over the flood walls. That must have been a sight.
Here is a video he sent me from Front street looking towards the river and downtown.

On the way back to campus I saw that the waters were getting closer to Riverside Drive in places

Such a pretty house too

As people were telling me, the Oakdale mall suffered major flooding too. Even though it is over a mile from the river, it is located at the bottom of its own little gully so it got demolished by runoff. Here is another facebook picture of the parking lot.

This picture above, and the next several below are from the Binghamton flood page on facebook. They are not mine, but I want to include them to cover some of the places I did not go.

Struble Rd

The event center, housing over 1800 people tonight.

This is a great picture

Conkling Highschool

Broome County Veterans Arena

Later at night I went down the west side of the parkway, past walmart. I would show you a picture but its just completely dark. You know its a disaster when the walmart is silent. I went into Vestal, and tried to get to Endicott but the road leading to the bridge was flooded. I went back and visited some people in the event center to help out, and finally headed home.
Here are some resources to read more. I would definitely suggest joining the facebook group, there are some unbelievable pictures.
Binghamton
Aerial shots
Floodwater receding
Evacuations- 20000
Downtown Binghamton pictures
Governor Cuomo to Residents:Get out now
 Flood Info and Media FB
Wilkes Barre
Everything else

At the end of the day, keep these people in mind. There very well may be someone out there important to you that's been affected.
Update:
"- A letter from President Magrath

As I’m sure you know by now, tragic flooding has once again struck the Southern Tier as it did just five years ago. This time, the floods affected a much broader geographical region and displaced even more families than it did in 2006. As the flood waters begin to recede, we are left once again with the devastating aftermath and the opportunity to reflect upon how Binghamton University and the Southern Tier have become partners, in both good times and bad.

This morning, I had the opportunity to tour the emergency operations centers at the Events Center and West Gym. Of all the lessons learned on a university campus, none has quite the impact of the one playing out there right now. What I observed impressed me so deeply that I wanted to take a moment to share what I saw there today. Faculty, staff and students were filling plates for the evacuees and setting up cots for their temporary residence on the gym floor. Community members — some of whom were displaced from the flood themselves — worked diligently to maintain a clean, organized facility and provide toiletries for people who no longer have the luxury of showering in their own homes. Volunteers from the American Red Cross and state and federal agencies worked in unison to provide essential services to more than 1,800 individuals. Meanwhile, supplies arrived by truck and by car, some of which were then quickly reloaded onto two Blackhawk helicopters, which thundered away to deliver them to another nearby shelter that had become a virtual island, inaccessible by other means.

Looking over rows and rows of families lying on cots, some thoughts came to mind.  While no one is happy by any means, they are all content that their essential needs are being met. Evacuees flash a friendly smile as a volunteer delivers diapers or a blanket. A dozen kids romp on each other with swords made of tied balloons, while a physics professor performs magic tricks. The Harpur Jazz Ensemble played from above to lighten the mood across the Events Center and finished to earnest applause from the audience. There were, indeed, many bright spots like this among the darkened skies.

Although Binghamton’s main campus was largely spared in the flooding, the University Downtown Center suffered significant damage and will be out of commission for an unknown amount of time. Classes have already been cancelled for two days as well as through the weekend, and there will be countless inconveniences as students, faculty and administration recalibrate their course schedules, classrooms are moved and facilities are occupied by evacuees or re-purposed to support the recovery efforts. 

With that in mind, I ask for your continued patience as we continue meeting the needs of our community. Though the timeline and challenges before us may be somewhat opaque, we expect to begin tracking back toward our primary academic mission early next week. I’d also like to extend my gratitude and admiration to those folks — you know who you are — who have contributed to this colossal endeavor in ways for which I cannot compensate. It is at these moments that I am both humbled and proud to serve as president here. And I am proud of the individuals — from both campus and community — who work tirelessly to support the needs of the Southern Tier. It is at these moments when the proof is truly in the pudding. 

Cordially,

C. Peter Magrath"

Update: A few fires have broken out across the Triple Cities area as well. The good news is that the flood waters isolate them somewhat so hopefully they have not been spreading. The bad news is that the fire department can't reach the houses due to the water so there is not much that can be done right now. If anyone has any information about more current developments, contact me and I will post them.

Binghamton Susquehanna Flooding Part 2

Next I headed up through campus to drop off some stuff. I get on to campus and I see the most people outside since the first weekend, you know, helping out and talking about what's going on. Oh wait never mind, they are playing Frisbee and basketball and yelling at passerby "WOOOO classes are canceled brahhhh yeaaa!" After talking to a few people, its safe to say the vast majority of people who live on campus have absolutely no clue what is going on. Like I said, if you just look around the living communities on campus, you would think its a beautiful day. All of these people genuinely are completely ignorant of the outside world which I feel just confirms all that I have complained about college kids in the past.
I went into the nature preserve to see how flooded the marsh pond was. The entire lower basin was a swamp, but pictures didn't really capture the scope so I didn't take any. But one positive that came out of it was OH look the autumn olives are in season!

Next I went to Stair Park just outside the SE corner of campus. This is the same park I went polar bear swimming in. Some of my friends have been telling me to take them here the last few weeks and I have been holding off because in the fall, the water fall is barely a trickle.
LOL.

Next I went down Vestal parkway towards downtown Binghamton. I was trying to get to confluence park where the two rivers meet in the heart of downtown, cause I knew that was probably the center of all the flooding.

This used to be a parking lot.

You could get barely out of sight of the university before the flooding became evident.

Vestal Parkway, just past university plaza (1)

1

View from Old Vestal Rd (1)

More people draining their basements

Fields at MacArthur Elementary (2)

2

2

2

2

Notice the amount of dry land around the doors 2

What I found about now was that the water levels were still rising. Viewing all of this, I was under the impression that it had reached it's worst this morning and was dropping. But no, as makes sense, all of the rain from the hills surrounding Binghamton was draining down into the river, meaning that even around noon it was still rising. I don't remember where I heard this, but some point in downtown was at 23 feet, and was expected to rise to 25 by 7 tonite. The flood line is 13 feet.
But it was definitely rising. As mentioned in the caption, pay attention to the water lines at MacArthur. That picture was from 1230.

3

3

3

The three above pictures are from the intersection of Vestal and Park Ave. About 1200 feet away from the river. This is as close to downtown as you can get from this side. There were quite a few people trapped in this region, and there were multiple boats going through houses getting people out. The water came in here very fast, just over the course of the last two hours apparently. By the end of the night, another block or so would be under water.

At some point down here it struck me how much the scene looked like your stereotypical disaster movie or something. This whole time, there were helicopters passing by every 5 minutes, both civilian press and military. Later in the night the governor would survey the damage from the air. The president would declare Binghamton along with countless other areas a federal disaster area. And it definitely deserved that distinction. Troopers, and paramedics were all over the place. All over the city, people were milling around aimlessly, displaced from their homes. Everyone watching the waters rise ever more.
Despite the grim circumstances, many of the people I saw handled it beautifully. They accepted the fact that there is nothing you can do in this situation. One man set up a lawn chair in the single patch of open grass on his lawn and cracked open a beer. The ability of people to cope is pretty amazing.

Here is the elementary school on the way back towards campus at 105:

2

This next picture is not mine, I found it on facebook and do not know who the original author was. It shows the school a few hours later still:

vestal parkway (1)

This was dry on the way down this morning

I headed back towards Bing to try to get to the other side of the river via the 201 bridge again. I stopped for a few minutes to get closer to the Vestal Parkway flooding. In the five minutes I was there the water went up another foot.
Here is the map for this portion:

Binghamton Susquehanna Flooding Part 1

I was going to write a snarky and sarcastic post complaining about all the rain we have gotten the last few days. I started it last night but ended up leaving it because it sucked. It was basically me making rain puns and complaining. It has gotten so much worse since last night.
So instead of clever rain puns, you get Rob, Flood Reporter.

Foreshadowing?

 It has been raining since Sunday here in Binghamton. No big deal for us, as Bing is notorious for having like, 4 sunny days between september and april. The picture up there is from Friday morning, and thats how it is almost every morning. You can barely almost kind of see the library tower in center.
Two nights ago it started pouring. And yesterday it poured all day long. ALL. Day. Long. Still, noone thought it was a big deal because I can't stress enough, this is normal for Binghamton. We are rated like the 5th most depressing city or something. Seriously. No joke.
All of the paths were rivers at this point because of the sheer amount of rain. There was a lake of water in front of the lecture hall that probably was affected by tides.

 It rained all day and in geneal was a very miserable day. Around one they canceled class the rest of the day. That nightt they canceled classes for Thursday. Everyone in our hall was going crazy about that, because there was nothing WRONG, it was just awesome that we didn't have to brave the rain tomorrow. The schedule at that point called for it to rain all thursday.

930 AM Thursday Sept 8.
Woke up, and it is not raining at all. Its actually pretty dry out. If you are at Binghamton University, it looks like we got a day off for nothing.
Until I start looking up stuff about it. 10000 people in Broome County are being evacuated. 100k in Pennsylvania. In Wilkes Barre, virtually the entire city is being evacuated.
So I grabbed my bike and was out by ten, Flood Reporting like only the Flood Reporter can.:
10-11 Sept 8

Normally a service road storing construction material. Viewed from 201 bridge (1)

(1)

(1)

2

I wish I had a smelloscope to illustrate the full effect of how much gas was in the water.  (2)

View from 201 bridge. THE MIGHTY SUSQUEHANNA (2)

View along bridge. Water level is usually at least 20 ft below bridge, today it was 5 at the max. 2

Bunch of crap in the water. 2

From bridge, looking into roundabout in Johnson City.. 3

Flooding, into the first two blocks of vestal 3

Church, probably 50-100 from the river. Not anymore 3

Formerly Riverside Drive. Now its just called..River 3

JC residents fighting back against their flooded basements 4

This guy just calmly walked through it all for the hell of it 4

4

Water volcano coming out of the sewer

Evacuations

View towards campus from 201

The above is a maps of the area I was taking pictures. On most of the pictures there is a little number in the caption, which corresponds to the picture which shows roughly where the camera was pointed. The blue represents flooding where I could see, so its definitely not a comprehensive guide.