High Water

Connecticut authorities are rescuing residents stranded by rising water in Tropical Storm Irene. Col. John Whitford, a spokesman for the Connecticut National Guard, said Sunday that an evacuation from high water was made in Milford and officials are responding to two more evacuation requests in the shoreline town. Lt. J. Paul Vance, a spokesman for the State Police, said evacuation teams were dispatched to Bridgeport. He says residents are being evacuated in Beacon Falls and in northwest Connecticut.

SAULT STE. MARIE, Mich. - Brian Ramler longs for the days when his marina on Lake Huron's Georgian Bay could handle 50 boats - before water levels began dropping steadily more than a decade ago. He can accommodate less than half as many now and wants the government to help bring water back. Forget it, says Philip Lunsford, who lives on the southern shore of Lake Michigan. He recalls beach homes being washed away by high water during the mid-1980s and fears it could happen again if authorities boost the level of Lake Huron, which is connected to Lake Michigan by a 5-mile-wide straits area.

ST. LOUIS - The Mississippi River climbed toward its high-water mark yesterday at St. Louis and was expected to crest over the next couple of days at points downriver, but the worst of the flood of 2008 appeared to be over. The National Weather Service said the river was leveling off at St. Louis at slightly less than 9 feet above flood stage, and was expected to stay there into today before slowly falling, barring more torrential rain to the north. The high water wasn't causing any major problems because low-lying areas are protected by a floodwall and the downtown...

LET CATHERINE Greig go. She followed James "Whitey" Bulger, and stayed with him come hell or high water. She didn't abandon him. Who are we to judge a woman's heart? She was faithful, so if she's being prosecuted in order to make an example of her, she is an example - an example of good old-fashioned dedication to the man you love, and a role model for brave women who choose a man and see in him what others don't and stand by him to the end. Jean Pepper

The Montpelier farmers’ market is being moved uphill due to high water. The Saturday morning event usually is held in a parking lot downtown, but high water is forcing it to move this week. The Vermont College of Fine Arts is hosting the event from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday in the parking lot next to the college gym. The gym is where the market has been held during the winter months in recent years. The downtown lot where the market usually is held during warmer months was full of water on Friday, with more heavy rain in the forecast.

LET CATHERINE Greig go. She followed James "Whitey" Bulger, and stayed with him come hell or high water. She didn't abandon him. Who are we to judge a woman's heart? She was faithful, so if she's being prosecuted in order to make an example of her, she is an example - an example of good old-fashioned dedication to the man you love, and a role model for brave women who choose a man and see in him what others don't and stand by him to the end. Jean Pepper

BALTIMORE -- Searchers found the body of a third construction worker yesterday that was swept away as storms flooded roads and overflowed creeks across Appalachia and the Eastern Seaboard. At least nine people have died, and emergency crews from Tennessee to Pennsylvania have rescued dozens of drivers from vehicles stalled in high water as the storms moved northeastward. In West Virginia, 350 children woke up yesterday morning still at school because roads to their homes were blocked by high water overnight.

Q. My sump pump fits in a smallish hole in the basement floor, and does a peculiar thing: It constantly checks for high water, and if there is high water, it turns on and pumps out water to bring it to the desired level. It’s costing me a bundle, perhaps one-third of my electric bill. DICK , wants to save A. That must be one of the new Smart Pumps, a slight smarter than it should be. Try enlarging the sump so that the water level is lower, out of reach of this cockamamie gadget (which checks the water level)

HICKMAN, Ky. — People along the lower Mississippi River and its tributaries packed up their belongings and emergency workers feverishly filled sandbags as high water pushed its way downstream yesterday in a disaster that could break flood records dating to the Depression. From Illinois to Mississippi, thousands of people have already been forced from their homes, and anxiety is rising along with the water, even though it could be a week or two before some of the most severe flooding hits.

VENICE, Italy - The city built on water has too much of it. Residents and tourists waded through knee-deep water yesterday as they navigated the city's narrow streets and alleys, and its historic St. Mark's Square was inundated. Boxes of tourist merchandise floated inside the flooded shops around the square and even the city's famed pigeons sought refuge on rooftops and windowsills. One of the highest tides in its history brought Venice to a virtual halt, rekindling a debate over a plan to build moveable flood barriers in an effort to...

Celebrity magazines have made the "fashion disaster" an everyday term. Governor Deval Patrick is working to make disaster fashion his personal trademark. Each time there was a snowstorm last winter - and there were many - Patrick went on television wearing a black fleece vest emblazoned with the initials "MEMA," for Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency. He did so again Monday, as he toured Greenfield in the aftermath of Hurricane Irene. The vest is accented with an official agency patch.

Connecticut authorities are rescuing residents stranded by rising water in Tropical Storm Irene. Col. John Whitford, a spokesman for the Connecticut National Guard, said Sunday that an evacuation from high water was made in Milford and officials are responding to two more evacuation requests in the shoreline town. Lt. J. Paul Vance, a spokesman for the State Police, said evacuation teams were dispatched to Bridgeport. He says residents are being evacuated in Beacon Falls and in northwest Connecticut.

The Montpelier farmers’ market is being moved uphill due to high water. The Saturday morning event usually is held in a parking lot downtown, but high water is forcing it to move this week. The Vermont College of Fine Arts is hosting the event from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday in the parking lot next to the college gym. The gym is where the market has been held during the winter months in recent years. The downtown lot where the market usually is held during warmer months was full of water on Friday, with more heavy rain in the forecast.

DES MOINES — Television evangelist Pat Robertson shocked the political establishment here on a cold February night in 1988, coming in second in the state’s GOP caucuses, with more support than the vice president, George H.W. Bush. Robertson’s strong showing was fueled by a so-called “invisible army’’ of evangelical followers, who surfaced just days before the vote and discovered the power they could wield. That army is invisible no longer. In a twist, though, split loyalties within its ranks could improve the chances of a more moderate GOP candidate like Mitt Romney, who stumbled...

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Children played in front yards and neighbors chatted under a cloudless sky yesterday in a south Memphis neighborhood, yards away from the rising water of the Nonconnah Creek. The unforgiving creek has soaked Johnny Harris’ house as the rest of Memphis awaits flood waters from the Mississippi River. Harris estimated he had more than 3 feet of water in his small, rented house on a low-lying section of Hazelwood Street. “It’s like an ocean,’’ he said.

HICKMAN, Ky. — People along the lower Mississippi River and its tributaries packed up their belongings and emergency workers feverishly filled sandbags as high water pushed its way downstream yesterday in a disaster that could break flood records dating to the Depression. From Illinois to Mississippi, thousands of people have already been forced from their homes, and anxiety is rising along with the water, even though it could be a week or two before some of the most severe flooding hits.

PORTLAND, ORE. -- The body of a woman who disappeared on a storm-battered beach was found yesterday, the third death recorded in a wave of stormy weather in the Pacific Northwest that smashed rainfall records and that threatened hundreds of homes, authorities said. A search continued for the woman's friend, who was not immediately identified. The storm had abated yesterday after sending rivers over their banks Monday and Tuesday, causing millions of dollars in damage. The governor of Oregon, Ted Kulongoski, declared an emergency in coastal Tillamook County, where about 100 people...

HOUSTON - Jeannine Burks stood outside her Houston home yesterday and surveyed the damage from Hurricane Ike: Tree limbs, debris, and standing water everywhere. She had no power, no phones, and had only just gotten back got her water pressure. In other words, she got lucky. "I have a roof over my house. I've got windows, and a cool front coming tomorrow," said Burks, who lives in the city's Sharpstown neighborhood. "Anytime you go through one of these with just broken trees and no power, you're doing good.

LANGLEY, Ark. — Six Louisiana Boy Scouts stranded by high water in an Arkansas forest said after being reunited with their families yesterday that they never feared camping in an area where 20 people died in a flash flood last summer. “I was worried that my parents would freak out,’’ said Ian Fuselier, 13. A National Guard helicopter plucked the boys and two scoutmasters from the Albert Pike Recreation Area at daybreak yesterday after the boys’ parents spent 36 hours awaiting their rescue.

Q. My sump pump fits in a smallish hole in the basement floor, and does a peculiar thing: It constantly checks for high water, and if there is high water, it turns on and pumps out water to bring it to the desired level. It’s costing me a bundle, perhaps one-third of my electric bill. DICK , wants to save A. That must be one of the new Smart Pumps, a slight smarter than it should be. Try enlarging the sump so that the water level is lower, out of reach of this cockamamie gadget (which checks the water level)