row, row, row your boat...

while ivan wobbles all over the caribbean, tropical storm naima drenches some parts of taiwan with 32 inches of rain. 32 inches of rain. that's a lot of rain.

just to put things in perspective, check out what just short of four inches of rain from the remnants of hurricane frances did to parts of lower manhattan in a few hours last week. here is a slideshow - the fire truck almost floating down a street in soho is priceless. i remember sitting in a humid subway car between stations for almost half an hour as the city rerouted trains through the 4/5 tracks. some people had to walk across the brooklyn bridge to get to work. the 3.75 or so inches of rain falling on the nyc area was enough to fill the empire state building 71 times over. the old water pumps in the nyc subway system were so pathetic that they couldn't pump out the water fast enough, causing some tracks to be shut down completely.

can you imagine 32 inches of rain being dumped on new york city?

hurricanes not only come with torrential rain, they are also accompanied by a storm surge, which is what puts low lying land areas under water. it isn't caused by rain. it is caused by wind and low pressure. here is a map of the hurricane evacuation areas of lower manhattan (i.e. what would be underwater if a hurricane hit). one particularly nasty hurricane in 1821 turned lower manhattan into a huge puddle, putting all areas below canal street underwater.

now, i'm a weirdo, so i'm looking at all of this with some perverse sense of excitement. i don't really own anything of value - i am a student with vagabond living patterns, so i jettison most of my belongings yearly. besides, i live in a sturdy brick building built in the 90's surrounded by other sturdy brick and concrete buildings. a friend and i discussed what we would do in the event of a major hurricane.

we're both a couple of idiots, so we decided we would buy one of these puppies and some paddles, helmets and life jackets, wait out the worst of the storm (we're not THAT stupid) with two more friends, then throw the thing out of a second floor balcony from my building (located near wall street), and then GO PADDLIN' around soho and tribeca, laughing at the boutiques inundated with water. i mean, you only live once, right?

WE'RE SO EXTREME!(tm)