A surplus of water

It feels almost uncivic-like (oof — not quite a word, I suppose) to write a blog in New England and to have said nothing about the flood. So I’ll just say this: Media Nation has been very lucky. We’re on high ground. Barely a drop has entered our cellar. Our roof has sprung a tiny leak next to the chimney, which is dripping into my son’s closet. But we won’t know until things have dried out thoroughly and there’s another, normal rainstorm before we’ll be able to tell whether we have a real problem or not.

The images on television have been absolutely startling. Peabody Lake, formerly Peabody Square, is the lead image in both the national and city editions of the New York Times. Here in the Flooded North, our town’s schools were closed yesterday, and the high school was being used as a shelter for those who were displaced — something I’ve never heard of happening here before. But this is not a river town, and by midday yesterday the worst appeared to be over.

Media Nation’s best wishes go out to everyone who’s been affected by the Great Flood of 2006.