Comments on: A Young River in an Old Valley

By: Clam

Clam — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 06:19:19 +0000

I love the idea that most Americans think that rivers flow south! You can see the logic … “Well, the top of the map is North, and the bottom is South and water goes downhill…”.
More seriously, we get people (often large construction companies) building houses on flood plains in the UK, ignoring a thousand years of buildings that are neatly on top of hills. Then you get complaints that “they” haven’t built adequate flood defences. Despite the general dumbing down of society, I think that it’s greed wot duz it, not ignorance.

By: Greg Laden

Greg Laden — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 02:17:46 +0000

I’m pretty sure they used bagged water previously in the Red River valley… it was noted on the news. I recommend heavy water, though.

By: doug l

doug l — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 23:56:27 +0000

I’d follow Greg anywhere from his blog in some subjects.
Using water in a plastic bag seems to be a strangely counter-intuitive use of the stuff, but have to say, it does make good practical sense when seen for what it is physically. I’ll be interested to see if it’s used this comming spring melt.

By: Greg Laden

Greg Laden — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 18:19:40 +0000

Richard,

I had considered including the uplift in this piece as a factor, but it was already a bit too complex. Yes, it is uplifting (at the northern end more than elsewhere, probably) because of rebound. This is not as much as up at Hudson Bay but it is a small factor … but a very small one.

Monado: Thanks for popping over from my other blog! Now, if I can get the other ten of my readers to do this, we’d have something going!

Wow. Filling the bags of water is interesting. Kind of ironic.

By: Monado in Toronto

Monado in Toronto — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 04:57:46 +0000

Hi, I popped over from Greg Laden’s blog.

The latest thing is to fill heavy-duty plastic bags with water and use them as sandbags. That works only if the current is not too strong or if you can build some kind of framework to hold them in place. But it means a lot less trucking of sand and shovelling, and is easier on the environment.

By: Richard Simons

Richard Simons — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 04:46:55 +0000

Curious about the gradient of the Red River, I came across a report (http://www.cababstractsplus.org/abstracts/Abstract.aspx?AcNo=20053096656) that the slope of the Red River is decreasing because of post-glacial uplift. Bad news for Winnipeg.

Winnipeg has a massive river diversion around the city that has saved it from major flooding in the past and recently Duff’s Ditch has been doubled in capacity.