Sunday, January 22, 2012

The Technology of the Flooding of 2012 vs 1996

So like many Oregonians during the past week we observed the hit of a small snowstorm then a melt, then huge torrential rains.  This caused widespread messes around us and flooding around the state, so sever the evacuation of a city!

But on the positive side, lets see how updates and news of the flood was handled in 1996.  It was mostly done through radio broadcast, tv news, and word of mouth.

Now enter 2012, where the Internet is mostly our real-time news information.  Both the Gazette Times and Democratic Herald setup a "live-blog" were anyone could contribute on their front page.  I routinely observed during the flood.  It was amazing how anyone could post and I would get information on where in the city of Albany/Corvallis roads were getting washed out or was closed.  I learned quickly how travel to South-town of Corvallis was shut off when the waters reached the roads.  Later on Friday night I learned highway 34 into and out of Corvallis was reduced to one lane due to the rising waters.

This quick and real-time information is great for us.  There is no delay and we can adjust our actions accordingly.

Here's a video of the mess:


3 comments:

  1. Another grand use of blogs although in this case Twitter may have the edge. Twitter works more with quick short sound bites that you might key into a smart phone.

    The layout of your blog has matured and your ability to include video and images seems right there on top.

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  2. I love your blog design and the video post. The Label Cloud feature... what is that? I see it at the bottom right hand corner of your blog.

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  3. The Label Cloud is much like a Tag Cloud, the words are the labels I use for each blog entry, the more times I use a Label, the bigger the word will get. It's a built-in gadget from blogspot. :)

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