Posted for my family in Asheville, whose home avoided major damage, but whose community is devastated.
And I'll add this video of a lake covered with debris:
What happens to the ecosystem of a lake in that situation? One would have to assume that there are no resources available to clean the lake by removing the debris, which will start to decay. The light and oxygen levels in the water will be inadequate for aerobic life. The stench will probably be incredible. Recreation and tourism will be at a standstill for years.
Addendum: Amazing improvement in the lake since I posted this, thanks to the Army Corps of Engineers. See the video at the link in the comment by reader Marc B.
A few years back, a neighbour (farmer) had a lot of trees blown down during an intense windstorm. He brought in some tree company that took most of that for firewood or pulp. He made some money out of that.
ReplyDeleteSpirit Lake by Mt St Helens has been undergoing something similar for over 40 years. A floating mat of logs is still there. https://www.opb.org/article/2024/10/26/spirit-lake-mount-st-helens-skamina-county-kelso-flood-water-tunnel/
ReplyDeleteInteresting. Thank you for the link.
DeleteRemember those floods in Belgium and Germany in 2021? It looked kinda the same there. Belgium did a Herculean effort to clean everything up.
ReplyDeleteThey found 5 km of abandoned highway in the area that they used to collect and sort out all the trash that was collected.
Here's a clip:
https://www.hln.be/binnenland/tonnen-puin-op-spooksnelweg-in-luik-als-er-geen-plaats-meer-is-moet-afval-maar-naar-autostrade~a5550cd3
Here's a picture:
https://www.demorgen.be/nieuws/vuilnisbelt-van-10-kilometer-lang-na-watersnood-in-luik~b45c4c94
It took a year or two of many, many volunteers to go by every bank of every river to pick up stuff, and a whole bunch of SCUBA divers to go dive up sunken refrigerators from local lakes and ponds.
In the end, they were able to recycle 70% of the trash, mostly wood and metal. The remaining 30% was burnt for power. Once the highway was cleared of the trash, they refilled it with all the soil that the rivers put in the wrong place, all 150,000 ton of it. Similarly, they're going to sort the soil taking out rocks and other debris as well as testing for pollution. Once cleaned, they can sell it.
Another clip:
https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/nl/2022/05/13/vervuild-slib/
For as dysfunctional as Belgium can be as a country with too many layers of government that relish in fighting each other, it is quite astonishing they pulled this off. Especially, since this area isn't the richest part of Belgium. Geographically, it has a lot in common with Western NC or WV. Pretty hills and mountains, with lots of little towns that lost mining now barely surviving on tourism. But of course, much smaller.
[For orientation, this is near the Francochamps Formula 1 racing circuit and the sources for Chaudfontaine and Spa mineral water]
The Army Corps of Engineers and others have already done a remarkable job of removing debris from Lake Lure in Western NC.
ReplyDeletehttps://news.lee.net/news/national/nc-lake-lure-debris-clean-up/video_7d889efc-c5f3-5e6e-a8e8-c598469912fe.html
WOW (all-caps). I'm impressed by the improvement. The Army Corps of Engineers is excellent, and I hope they don't fall victim to the downsizing or privatizing of the federal government under the coming administration.
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