Thursday, March 10, 2011

High water

There was a stream of people in and out of Harris Riverfront Park in downtown Huntington this evening to see the Ohio River. The water is up pretty high, and the latest forecast I've seen is for it to rise another 5 feet before it crests Sunday evening. That would put it 5 feet lower than the flood of 1997, which was the largest in my memory.

Adam and I went out to get some pictures. Because of the rain and falling darkness -- and because the water had covered most of the familiar landmarks -- we didn't get much. This was about all we got ...



... and still it's not much. Tomorrow evening we're going to a spot where I should get a couple good shots as long as the road isn't under water.

I have to drive up the river on Saturday. I'll need to plan to use some of the back roads I know because the river will probably be over places on WV Route 2 and Ohio Route 7 by then.

One thing did work out well, though. While waiting at a red light, Adam and I saw a white heron. It was only the second time we had seen one around here. The first was a couple of summers ago in the backwaters of Teens Run right above the Robert C. Byrd Locks and Dam. We could only see that bird from a distance, but this one circled right in front of us.

Feedback

I was stranded at the Huntington Mall for a couple of hours yesterday because of car trouble. As I was walking around, someone I did not recognize stopped me and asked if I was the guy who gave the Ohio River photo presentation last week. We had a nice, short conversation about one of our favorite spots along the river -- Mound Hill Cemetery in Gallipolis, Ohio, where you can see about ten miles of river.

A few weeks ago, while I was working on a story about a hospital, I was trying to get a photo, but not having much success. I told my guide that I'm better at shooting large stationary objects like bridges. She said she follows my river photos on Flickr.

Incidents like those keep me going when I wonder how much effort to put into stuff.