April Showers and All That

It was officially the rainiest April ever recorded for the Syracuse area.  Let me tell you, it felt like it.  The whole month was gloomy and dreary and drippy, then we had a couple of whopper thunder storms this past week that caused a lot of damage and brought a whole hell of a lot of rain.

Mind you, I am incredibly grateful Syracuse's damage was just some flooding, hail damage, and power outages, and not the kind of deadly tornado damage some other states saw.  It still did, however, cause things like several feet of rushing water on Route 81, backed up sewers,  and damage to the local parks, among other things.  The hail did a lot of damage too, including to my Dad's car, which he had been contemplating trading in next month.  Spectacular timing.

Check out some of the massive hail stones from his yard.  You can see why they dented the car:

By the way, when I say backed up sewage, I'm not exaggerating.  The County sewers were so overloaded by that one massive storm that sewage erupted out of the toilets at my husband's office with such force that it blew the toilets clean off the seals on the two lower floors of the building.  That should give you some idea how much rain we got in that one storm.  Ew ew ew ew ew.

Anyway, on to pleasanter subjects.  Today dawned bright and clear and deliciously sunny - an incredibly welcome change from the gloom and rain.  Could this signal a brighter May?  Late in the day we stopped at Onondaga Lake Park to see just how flooded it is.  I had heard that the lake was well beyond flood stage, but Onondaga Lake Park tends to develop a lot of mini ponds on the lawns at the northern end in the spring anyway.

I certainly did not expect to see as much water as I did.

Parts of Onondaga Lake Park have basically turned into lake soup.  It's truly impressive.  Actually, for me, it was a little creepy.  I happen to have a nearly pathological fear of things submerged under water, and I often have anxiety dreams about having to walk on docks that are sinking into water.  Let me tell you, there are some things in the Park right now that are the stuff of my nightmares.

One section of trail disappears under a foot or so of water:

There are several docks that are nearly in the water (*shudder*) and which one could only access by wading:

The really sad part is that it's done some real damage to the marina, and undoubtedly some other areas too.  And my word, it has also dumped a whole lot of gross debris along the shoreline.  It's going to be a huge undertaking to clean up.  The poor docks in the marina are new, and I hope the damage isn't too extensive.

Thankfully, the worst of the debris is largely concentrated near the southern end of the Park, and much of the park was still pretty and inviting.  There were certainly folks out enjoying it, because it was hard to resist going for a stroll in all that sunshine, despite the damp.

The sunshine and all the water made for some beautiful photos, even if I couldn't get to all the benches to enjoy the view.

Here's hoping for a brighter, sunnier May to dry us out a bit!