News That Stays News

“The forest is closed” July 15, 2018

July 15, 2018

Yes, this is something people say here. Or announce by posting a sign:

In this case, the forest was closed due to heavy rains and flooding. They evacuated the outlying dormitory where they stash students and unfortunate researchers at 4:45 AM on Saturday because the bridge connecting it to everything else was flooded. I first found out about the flooding when I looked out my window and realized that I could see a lot more river water than I had the day before. The big bridge across the river was fine, but all we could see of the four-meter floodwater measuring stick (which absolutely everyone calls the “oh-shit stick”), was the unlabeled top:

When I got ready to go to lunch, I made it across the bridge only to discover that the dip between the end of the bridge and the dining hall had flooded. I waded across thigh-high water to lunch, then talked the lunch ladies into making me up a bag lunch I could take back with me so that I wouldn’t need to come back for dinner.

This turned out to be unnecessary, since the water was apparently already receding by then, but I enjoyed a nice quiet (solitary!) evening doing nothing in particular, so I didn’t mind. I made it to breakfast today without having to wade through anything, and they reopened the forest after lunch. There’s been a bit more rain, but parts of today were actually sunny, and the water has made it all the way down to the bottom of the stick.