Knowing that the post-Irene flood waters were beginning to subside, I went back down to the Hudson River today. I saw at least two different helicopters overhead, one circled back and forth for a long time. I assume it was assessing the damages.
Water had receded from the underpass exiting onto Broadway enough for cars to pass, but the sidewalks under there were caked with mud. Further upstream, the Maiden Lane pedestrian bridge was closed. So I took the elevated walkway that runs behind the DEC and Quackebush Square to the parking lot next to the old Central Warehouse. Looking down from the ramp, I could see a fine film of dried mud on the underbrush along the railroad tracks and a layer of dried mud covered much of the parking lot on the south side of the massive abandoned warehouse.
Coming down off the ramp, I could smell the river. Approaching the 787 underpass that's used as a rain location for Alive At Five concerts (like the awesome Village People show a couple of years ago), there was a lot of mud. Dried mud at the intersection, a thick layer of mud in a parking lot under 787...heavy, oozing mud everywhere.
Front-end loaders were busy clearing mud from the 787 underpass, but the pedestrian path approaching the Livingston Avenue bridge was just too mucky for me to venture any closer. I could see small Coast Guard boats on the river, heading north. And, while the river was still higher than I can ever recall, it had dropped considerably since yesterday. The supports of the old rail bridge were clearly visible above the rapidly flowing river...which looked like a chocolate milkshake that's to the dirt and debris in it.
I'll be posting some addition photos in the Facebook album linked in yesterday's post.
That mud wasn't dry this morning when I had to ride my bike through it, as the only semi-dry approach open to bicycles. I will NEVER get all the clay off my bike.
ReplyDelete