My Tuesday morning assignment was simple: show how places are getting ready for the arrival of the remnants of Hurricane Ida. I used a taped piece from Schuylkill County. The scene above was our live backdrop. The flood gate at Millennium Circle in Wilkes-Barre closed. Instead of a lovely view of the Susqehanna River, it was a silver metal wall.
While the Susquehanna will rise, Ida looks to be a stream, creek, and street event. There won't be a lot of water up north, and that's where the Susquehanna gets its fuel. Closing the gates was a good idea, nonetheless.
As I write this, it's late Wednesday morning. It's pouring. I just arrived home from taking my father to a medical appointment in Wilkes-Barre. Interstate 81 was insane. Very few drivers adjust speed downward for the conditions. I saw two near crashes. Note to other drivers: tailgating will not make me drive faster. Some nimrods insist on driving without headlights in a heavy rain. The turn into my driveway filled me with an aura of blessed relief.
There has been a great debate in our newsroom and on social media about hype, early warning, rainfall totals, etc. Most people are happy with how we handled it. There were some dissenters.
As many of you know, I produce Newswatch 16 on weekend mornings. The buck stops with me. During a break in our Sunday morning broadcast, meterologist Valerie Smock showed me a map of the projected rainfall totals in our area from Ida. I gasped. We discussed whether it was too early to use a map like that. I gave Valerie the green light, and she was already leaning that way. Valerie made sure to point out that it was an early projection. A change in the track of the storm could make a big difference, but this is what we were looking at. As it turned out, that first projection map was on the money.
I'm a cautious guy. I don't like going out on limbs, but I do like you getting the most information I can offer, as early as I can reasonably do so, and without the hysterical hype. This was one of those cases.
I hope it helped people make informed decisions.
