edit: Merged this thread with p2dak18's "theres a river where my backyard should be"

Last night brought some of the worst flooding I've seen in the 18 years I've lived in western Fairfax. 495 was shut down both ways, route 50 in front of Fair Oaks mall was under water, and large sections of the City of Fairfax had to be blocked.

I decided to be a dork and go to a few local places near my house that are prone to flooding.

You can click any of the thumbnails to bring up the HUGE full-size originals. These thumbnails have been lightened slightly with The Gimp.

This first shot was taken 2 days ago (6/23 1:52am) at the stepping stones behind Walney Oaks on the trail that connects to the Waverly Crossing Bike Path. Usually you can bike or even rollerblade through here without a problem. This picture shows the creek at a "normal" flood stage.


And this was the scene last night. Note that you can't even see the impressions of the stepping stones in the water. I was also a good 10 feet farther back for this shot.


A shot of the bridge that runs over Big Rocky Run behind Poplar Tree Elementary. Usually this bridge is a 6 foot drop to a bubbling little creek beneath.


The low-point of Walney Road by the intersection with Westfields Blvd was completely destroyed with flood waters tearing apart layers of asphalt on the bridge.


Flood waters rushing underneath the bridge on Walney Road.


I was only able to stand where I did to take these pictures because something collapsed sending the flood waters over Walney Rd 50 feet closer to the Expo Center than the usual high water point. A car got stuck in the water at this "new" river-crossing and the occupants had to be rescued.


Anyone else have pictures of the flooding?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/26/2006 05:59PM by Cary.

all the fools that try to drive through flood waters deserve what they get. oh yes, it really doesnt flood where i am... the curbs become small rivers though. drainage system is good here.

on a side note, gimp has a horrifically bad user interface and i do everything i can to avoid having to use it. hell, ill pirate photoshop 5.5 if i must.


"the wisdom of the wise will perish, the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish."

rain doesnt fuck ur camera up?

I took a picture with my phone, can't quite upload it, will soon. I was on Compton Rd today (BAD IDEA) The bridge over LRR is flooded over. I ran down LRR about 0.5 a mile to the intersection with Bull Run (see pic here ) and the stepping stones were covered over. Just before the sewage plant as well. I turned around at both. At the latter a firetruck drove behind me and blocked it off. There is a low place just before it and Sharpsburg(sp) Lane after NOVEC substation. It was about 3 feet deep (fire hydrant barely visible) I ran down LRR about 0.5 a mile to the intersection with Bull Run (see pic here ) and the stepping stones were covered over.

edit by cary: fixed html



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/26/2006 05:29PM by Cary.

Walney pond/road = Walney LAKE

edit by cary: made thumbnails of images. click for full-size originals







Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/26/2006 06:12PM by Cary.

Roads closed and neighborhood flooding

edit by cary: made thumbnails of images. click for full-size originals







Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/26/2006 06:15PM by Cary.

The road near Franklin Farm Middle School

edit by cary: made thumbnails of images. click for full-size originals. the street here is lees corner road.







Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/26/2006 06:18PM by Cary.

Braddock Rd Bridge on the way the Cox Farm

edit by cary: made thumbnails of images. click for full-size originals.






Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/26/2006 06:19PM by Cary.

My back yard

edit by cary: made image a thubmail. click it for the full-size original.





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/26/2006 06:20PM by Cary.

How abou the section of walney where there is the signs marking feet (they're yellow, narrow, tall, 5 ft)

p2dak,
Wow great pictures! thanks! I should follow your lead and take my pictures during the day when you can actually see something! I've merged our threads together, hope you don't mind.

KeepOnTruckin,
My picture of the road all torn up IS that section of walney where the yellow flood signs are. The river forged a new path over a slightly lower point so the signs are now in the wrong spot.

MrDoctor,
Yeah rain can fuck the camera up, but it wasn't raining that hard anymore when I went out to take the pictures. And I brought along a zip-loc baggie to keep it in.

no problem here, great idea

Very impressive flooding. I have serveral non-digital photos that i will scan and upload here once I get them developed. Great shots guys!

I just got all it all hooked up to transfer the pics from my phone, and the damn computer crashes. I had several pics of LRR and also some cops blocking off Rt 29 at Stringfellow as well as Compton Rd.

KeepOnTruckin Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I just got all it all hooked up to transfer the
> pics from my phone, and the damn computer crashes.

sounds like a windows problem. ;)


"the wisdom of the wise will perish, the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish."

I saw the Beer Looter dude crossing FFX pkwy with a case of Heinekens

I drove through flood waters yesterday. The trick is to get a good to 88mph heading into it, so that you have enough velocity to make it to the other side without stalling in the middle of the flooded street.

What the fuck is that?

I call up Motorola and they blame it on Verizon and i got transfered 7 TIMES!! and finnaly hung up on. I'll call again later today. It seems to be a Moto problem.

Ok, got one of my crappy cell phone pics to come thorugh. Thats Little Rocky Run at Compton Road Bridge.
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Got some more to come through:
Attachments:

Ok, here's the cops blocking off Rt. 29/Stingfellow at 7-11:

And also look at this sidewalk ripped apart that is 10 feet above a stream.

And, this 3-TON steel reinforced concrete pipe is turned sideways and down the stream a bit. (before + after --red stripe on first is yardstick)
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Damn!! the floods waters ripped all that shit up? thats pretty amazing. I love it and continue the great pics

Wow I'm glad this was well documented! This flooding was positively the worst I've seen in my 40 years in Fairfax. Does anyone else have pics they can share from this event? I'll attempt to dig up my own as well. Thank you.

LOL I remember going through this on Telegraph RD near Belvoir back then.

People were driving through the floods and at some points the water was at their door handles.

Global Warming.