Look a hundred feet farther downstream:
I could jump across that, and if I fell in I wouldn’t get wet above the knees.
This is the Withlacoochee River at GA 122:
You can’t even see any water from the end of the bridge.
To get an idea of how high the water can get at flood:
Here are the pilings from the really old bridge (not the one that the new bridge replaced):
That cross is about seven feet tall:
The shrine is related to what is unfortunately probably the biggest news story ever about the river at that bridge. Dean Poling wrote 2 September 2009 in the Valdosta Daily Times, Body found along the Withlacoochee.
Low water at a sad bridge.
Two years ago a 700 year flood. This year, a drought so bad the governor declares Lowndes County a disaster area. Does that seem like normal climate to you?
Sure, some of the flooding is caused by local overdevelopment and sprawl, which we should do something about, not only to avoid floods, but also to avoid fiscal ruin or tax increases. The drought is harder to explain through local causes alone.
-jsq
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