Rain on the East Coast

A recent storm in Eastern Massachusetts dropped more that ten inches of rain in certain areas. Winchester, Quincy, Waltham and Newton are just a few of the towns that were severely affected by the excess rain. Many schools and businesses were closed due to flooded streets, as well as any damage the water may have done to the buildings themselves. The Aberjona River in Winchester, the town where I currently teach, flooded the surrounding land and streets. Our middle school was closed Monday and Tuesday of this week and the high school remains closed until the water, which is half way up the walls of the basement floor, recedes. Today, one of my students told me that he saw someone canoeing in what is normally a soccer field. Another student could only see the roof of a car almost fully submerged in water. Although the rain has since stopped and the sun is now shining, the cleanup is not anywhere near finished.

By now, you may be wondering why I am sharing this experience with you. This unfortunate occurrence is a good example of how the Earth Science course has made me more aware of my surroundings. Prior to taking this course, I probably would not have given this event a second thought. What connections can I make to what we have learned so far? Winchester, as well as the towns mentioned above, are lower in elevation than other surrounding towns. The rainfall in the towns higher in elevation eventually makes its way down to the towns lower in elevation. It can be said the towns higher in elevation are part of the Aberjona River’s watershed. We learned that a watershed is the area of land where all of the water that is under it or drains off of it goes into the same place. In Winchester, this “same place” is the Aberjona River.

We have been working our way down the Nile River and as of recent have been focused on the Aswan Dam in Egypt. Using our knowledge of the river system so far, we were asked to anticipate what we think will happen to that part of the river in the next 1,000 years. Our group’s responses were quite varied; however, we all seemed to agree that the water in Lake Nasser, just before the dam, is going to be greatly affected. Some of us thought that as sediment continues to settle in the lake, it will become shallower and force the lake to become wider. Others thought that as the water continues to flow into the lake, it will make its way around the dam and form tributaries and streams and eventually the lake will be gone. It is a tough job to project 1,000 years into the future, but we do our best given the information we are given. As we continue to move downstream, our next focus is on the Nile’s delta!