Tuesday, April 5, 2011

A Good Night for Connecticut

UConn 53, Butler 41.

It was an ugly game, but the UConn men's basketball team won the NCAA national championship last night. 

Regrettably, Sunday night the UConn women's team lost to Notre Dame, so they will not play in Tuesday night's women's championship game.

These photos were taken by shooting at the TV screen, so credits go to CBS and the NCAA.

I confused people the past two days with photos of the Connecticut River's floodplain near Hartford.  What you saw is not a problem, it is absolutely normal and happens every year.  There are no permanent structures in the floodplain and it isn't even remarkable enough for the local newspapers to mention.  Hartford had bad flooding in the 1930s, and since then there have been extensive investments in flood control measures.  These low-lying riverfront parks have been rebuilt so they can flood in the spring without much damage.  In fact, having these broad floodplain parks is part of what allows the surplus water to spread out without damaging developed areas.  The water will eventually drain away, grass will grow and the parks will be ready for foot traffic again.

This is not to say that the Connecticut River and its tributaries don't occasionally flood.  They do.  It just hasn't happened here (yet) this year.  For those interested in weather minutiae, if you click here you will see that so far there are no significant flooding problems anywhere in southern New England. 
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21 comments:

  1. KarlApril 5, 2011 at 7:39 AM

    Beautiful moment, great picture!

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  2. Cezar and LéiaApril 5, 2011 at 7:46 AM

    This picture is a treasure, wonderful moment there!
    Léia

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  3. Dave-CostaRicaDailyPhoto.comApril 5, 2011 at 8:12 AM

    Your explanation of the land use of the flood plain is perfect and is exactly what nature intended and man should continue. The engineered approach to flood control of building higher levees merely channelizes the river so that it creates a higher flood elsewhere. The Mississippi now reaches higher flood levels with less volume of water. The Yangtze River in China is even worse.

    Scottsdale had the foresight in the 1960's and 1970's to reject the concrete drainage ditches like they built in Los Angeles and instead has a green belt of parks and golf courses and lakes that runs the length of the city and that is allowed to flood every few years for a few days.

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  4. MichelleApril 5, 2011 at 8:43 AM

    A great moment for UCONN.

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  5. HalcyonApril 5, 2011 at 8:50 AM

    Congrats on the win! Was not the most exciting game, but at least the outcome was a happy one for your team. :)

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  6. KateApril 5, 2011 at 8:50 AM

    The photos capture the feelings of elation after a hard-fought win. Well, I am certainly happy to hear that the water which you photographed earlier is a natural event that causes no damage, but instead restores the area. Nature sometimes knows best!!

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  7. SharonApril 5, 2011 at 8:56 AM

    You got a great photo right off of the TV!
    Thanks for the explanation of the flooding. I wondered if it was an engineered floodplain.

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  8. jooApril 5, 2011 at 9:15 AM

    Great photos, Jack!

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  9. LoisApril 5, 2011 at 10:37 AM

    Congrats!

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  10. Regina KApril 5, 2011 at 12:01 PM

    Congrats to the Huskies!!!!

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  11. cieldequimperApril 5, 2011 at 12:42 PM

    Yours and Dave's explanations are perfect.
    I'm glad you were happy ;-)but hey, Notre Dame? ;-)

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  12. MalyssApril 5, 2011 at 1:45 PM

    Thank you for the explanations about flood!
    and if you're happy about basket ball's results, I'm happy for you!:o)

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  13. RedPatApril 5, 2011 at 2:28 PM

    Glad the water isn't a problem. Thought you would be happy today when I read the sports section this morning!

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  14. youth_in_asiaApril 5, 2011 at 7:14 PM

    Congrats! It was a VERY ugly game, but I was happy to see UConn win it. It would have been great to see the women win too given the great year they had.

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  15. BirdmanApril 5, 2011 at 9:33 PM

    I must admit. I was hoping for a Butler Bulldog win. Love the underdog.

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  16. VirginiaApril 5, 2011 at 10:06 PM

    WAAAAAAAAA!!! Sorry Jack but a former student at my elementary school here in B'ham plays for Butler, Ronald Norred. I'm sorry the lost.
    V

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  17. RandyApril 5, 2011 at 11:00 PM

    Moments like this are great!

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  18. VPApril 6, 2011 at 6:21 AM

    Congratulations!

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  19. EG CameraGirlApril 6, 2011 at 3:44 PM

    Congrats to UConn! You sure take great photos of your TV!

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  20. LowellApril 6, 2011 at 4:55 PM

    UCONN, Butler? Huh? Are you talking about a submarine during the Civil War?

    Re your comments on Stone Creek: The young man is a year older than I am, so thank you. And he's carrying a putter with his right hand but you can't see it 'cause of the angle.

    That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

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  21. UnknownApril 7, 2011 at 11:21 AM

    It's hard to get a great shot of a tv screen but the top one is brilliant!

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