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OddWelcome2502 t1_j89hd92 wrote

But the water rushing off the top of that tower! Looks wild

98

Don_key_Hotea t1_j89hv4x wrote

Shokoe Bottom is essentially a bowl between Navy Hill and Church Hill. Water runs downhill and collects into larger and larger puddles. The flood wall is meant to keep the overflowing James River from flooding into the bowl not to prevent the collection of water from the run off.

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Plaski t1_j89jqgm wrote

I've always thought that was a pump station for the wall, perhaps they are testing or flushing the system.

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J-Colio t1_j89jvhg wrote

That's not good.

I think that's a lift station...

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dreww4546 t1_j89stca wrote

Shockhoe bottom cleansing itself? Think Noah but on a smaller more localized scale

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Mr_Boneman t1_j8a0jeq wrote

From time to time, shockoe creek returns from the depths of the sewer line it was turned into.

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jbarrish t1_j8a2p3h wrote

Replying to Plaski (#1,789,569)

Pretty sure it's a lift station to transfer waste water to the treatment plant across the river or the giant holding tank island nearby. Sewer, not flood wall related.

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adho123456 t1_j8acxf3 wrote

The “bathtub” is unable to drain

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absen7 t1_j8aee84 wrote

It's definitely flooding. The building is a wastewater pump station, and the city's retention basin is close by. I'm not sure if this pumps into that or to the wastewater plant, more than likely wastewater. My assumption is the system is full, water is flowing straight downhill into shockoe and what we see here is by design to stop damage. Or something broke, and it's flooding. Flooding is the end result either way. Hah

I'd love to hear from someone that worked/works wastewater.

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Jsprdn t1_j8agta0 wrote

Replying to Danger-Moose (#1,790,263)

I lived in NYC then and had to deliver emergency generators to Manhattan hospitals during that shitstorm. Problem was their generators were up on the roof but the fuel tanks were in the basements..

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dreww4546 t1_j8an7wu wrote

Replying to Ese_Americano (#1,790,685)

The problem wasn't that generators failed, it was that this has been a flood zone since richmonds first days as a city.

Rain came down at an unprecedented rate during gaston and there was no where for the water to drain too.

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Skatejay t1_j8anz1e wrote

Well it’s the end of the world of course …

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stayintall t1_j8ao574 wrote

Replying to lunar_unit (#1,789,810)

I lived across from what was then Tiki Bobs and remember Gaston vividly. I worked up around 14th and was walking back to 18th right as the farmers market was starting to flood. Was probably about 6” high at that point. A couple of us got a few sixers and rode out the storm from 18th and Franklin and at one point saw an 18 wheeler floating down 17th. The water rose all the way up to 18th. We rescued a dog off the top of a car somewhere in there as well. Was a wild time.

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librab103 t1_j8bf7zp wrote

flooding, overflow sewage water?

1

Tstewmoneybags99 t1_j8bfbd9 wrote

Replying to sleevieb (#1,790,897)

It’s a pump station that is probably overflow because they didn’t close the flood gates it’s purpose is to pump water out once you close the flood walls because the drainage won’t flow normally out of this area. The water is probably overflow and from the pump station as the the pump station is likely on a minimum run capacity.

Basically cause the walls aren’t closed it’s not really doing the job it’s intended to do so they are just letting it roll.

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kneel_yung t1_j8bpsbs wrote

Replying to freetimerva (#1,791,186)

yeah but when there's enough rain for a CSO, what you're seeing is like 0.1% or less doo doo by volume (ddbv) compared to the insane amount of water contained in a rainstorm.

a 1-inch rainstorm deposits a little over a billion gallons of water, just in the city limits (27,154 gallons per acre, 40,040 acres in the CoR). The entire flow of the james river is 1.8 billion gallons per day.

So a 1 inch rainstorm dumps the equivalent of the entire james river's flow for about 12-13 hours into our sewer system.

The state of virginia estimates the average person generates 75 gallons of sewage every day. With a population of 226,000, lets use the number 100 gallons per person per day. That comes to 22 million gallons of water. 22 million into 1 billion is about 2.2 percent.

And that 100 gallon figure includes grey and black water. So the vast majority of it is going to be from your shower, dishwasher, washing machine, and sink. Unless you personally produce 100 gallons of feces in a day, I think its safe to say the average person produces less than 1 gallon of actual waste in a day.

Which brings the final number to about 226,000 gallons of actual doodoo out of 1 billion gallons of rainwater = not all that much doodoo, really.

I mean I definitely wouldn't drink it, but I bet it actually is cleaner than the water that's already in the james (and has accumulated runoff from farms upstream).

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dreww4546 t1_j8bubeo wrote

Replying to Ese_Americano (#1,793,429)

After Gaston, the army Corp of engineers pretty much said there is no pump system that would be able to manage a foot of rain being funneled down into the bottom in an hour. But politics being what they are more money was spent

I really don't know what is happening in the pic. I just wanted to chime in on Gaston flooding.

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trlblaze t1_j8ciyd8 wrote

Replying to stayintall (#1,791,564)

I rode that storm out on the 4th floor of my friend's apartment at 21st and Cary. Water was rising up to the driver's windows of cars parked down by 18th and I vividly remember the bottoms up dumpster floating down the street.

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RCBilldoz t1_j8cwg0t wrote

Replying to lunar_unit (#1,789,810)

The flood wall was not closed. We got 10 inches of rain in less than 6 hours. Our civil war era drainage didn’t help.

It was not riverine flooding, there was no water coming down river. It takes about 24-30 hours to close. There was no prediction of river flooding with Gaston.

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anemone_rue t1_j8d6xsd wrote

It's poo water. Either too much water flooded the sewer system because the pipes are not in good condition or it got jammed up do to wet wipes.

0

kneel_yung t1_j8d8zhq wrote

Replying to lunar_unit (#1,789,810)

Gaston flooded because shockoe creek flooded due to the rain.

The flood wall is not designed to protect richmond from shockoe creek flooding, only from the river. Shockoe creek is on the other side of the flood wall. So the flood wall couldn't have done anything in that situation. In fact its mere existence made it worse because it trapped all the water from trying to get into the river and instead held it in shockoe.

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lunar_unit t1_j8ddbye wrote

Replying to kneel_yung (#1,796,236)

Gillies creek is two miles from shockoe, way over in Fulton, flowing to the river from Eastern Henrico. It had nothing to do with flooding in Shockoe. Over 12" of heavy rain in 8 hours is what caused the flooding.

Here's an account of how it went down:

https://richmond.com/news/local/why-richmond-why-officials-say-floodwall-didnt-fail-during-gaston-in-2004/article_7bcd6202-7ae8-5116-891b-a36c86df4db4.html

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AdThat6254 t1_j8die2f wrote

The infamous flood wall puddle. Ask bottoms up about it.

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