Actually, this type of rainfall is very uncommon for Washington. Here's what the Washington Post reported on Wednesday:
"From Friday morning through yesterday morning, 12.11 inches of rain fell at Reagan National Airport, according to unofficial tabulations.
"This amount of rain in four days should occur once every 200 years, and we just lived through it," said Jim Lee, meteorologist in charge at the National Weather Service."
Certainly, I've never seen anything like this and doubt I will again any time soon. Of course, I'm not an expert on global warming and I don't know what effect it would have on the DC area by say, the end of this century.
The National Archives faces the National Mall, which is in a low lying area. There is some interesting information about Tiber Creek and the canal that used to run where Constitution Avenue now exists, available at
http://www2.nature.nps.gov/views/Sites/NAMA/HTML/ET_NamaTour4.htm
See also
http://www.si.edu/oahp/nmaidig/panel.htm
NARA's server is still up and running. As to off-site servers, they certainly would help with access to digital copies, but keep in mind that NARA has a number of artifacts and original, one of a kind documents stored or displayed at Archives One.
BTW, the ISOO declassification workshop scheduled for tomorrow at Archives One will be held at Archives Two in College Park, instead. See http://www.archives.gov/isoo/
As to Peter's question, I haven't worked at Archives One for a long time, I don't have any up to date info on generators. If it is appropriate to discuss publicly, perhaps a NARA official will post something about that.
I hope those of you who were in the path of this annoying persistent weather system escaped damage to your homes, as well. I did ok in Arlington, VA; most of my problems centered on my commute. (My customary 30 minutes ride to work on the subway took two hours on Monday; of that, one hour was spent standing at Rosslyn Metro station, waiting to squeeze on to a train. (Flooding had shut down the Federal Triangle station in the downtown area.)
Maarja
>>> Charlotte Coats <[log in to unmask]> 6/29/2006 2:30:01 PM >>>
Is this an argument for a server storage unit in Nevada for NARA or
what....:)
Although bad now, it apparently is a recurring weather condition...
----Original Message Follows----
From: Ellen Chapman <[log in to unmask]>
Reply-To: Ellen Chapman <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [ARCHIVES] EASTERN FLOODS
Date: Thu, 29 Jun 2006 08:15:04 -1000
On last nights CBS news, there was footage of water in NARA's basement
theater and info that the entire basement had flooded. No archival records
were damaged (acc. to the newscaster), but there is concern. Humidity in
the entire building is rising bec. of no electricity for A/C, so
industrial dehumidifiers have been brought in to mininmize problems.
|((| Ellen Chapman, MLS, MA, CA
|))| Archives & Manuscripts Department
|((| University of Hawaii at Manoa Library
|))| (808) 944-7656
On Thu, 29 Jun 2006, Maarja Krusten wrote:
> Many thanks, Russell, your thoughtfulness is appreciated! I have to say,
it was wonderful to wake up and see the sun shining yesterday morning!
>
> My local papers (Washington Post, Washington Times) mostly focus on the
National Archives and the way it is cleaning up. See
http://www.washtimes.com/metro/20060628-110419-3919r.htm for the story in
today's WT; unfortunately, it doesn't include the photo of the National
Archives that is on the front page of today's print edition.
>
> If anyone has seen stories in other Northeastern newspapers about
archival or cultural institutions affected by the flooding, do let us know.
Of course, I'm sure Peter will be sending out a a good, comprehensive, ahem,
RAIN, listing on the weekend!
>
> Maarja
>
>
> >>> Russell Baker <[log in to unmask]> 6/29/2006 10:06:56 AM >>>
> Dear Colleagues:
>
>
>
> I have been watching with horror the rise of the floodwaters in
> Washington, DC and in the eastern states. I fear that this means an
> other round of loss of life, homes, livelihoods, as well as cultural and
> family treasures, public records, and business records. I hope it will
> not be as severe a loss as we suffered last year here in the South. Our
> hearts down here go out to you up there. Let us know how we can help.
>
>
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
> Russell P. Baker, CA
>
> Archival Manager
>
> Arkansas History Commission and State Archives
>
> One Capitol Mall
>
> Little Rock, AR 72201
>
> 501-682-6900
>
> www.ark-ives.com
>
> [log in to unmask]
>
> This electronic message transmission contains information from the
> Arkansas History Commission and State Archives and may be confidential
> or privileged. The information is intended to be for the use of the
> individual or entity named above. If you are not the intended recipient,
> be aware that any disclosure, copying, distribution or use of the
> contents of this information is prohibited. If you have received this
> electronic transmission in error, please notify us by telephone
> (501-682-6900) immediately.
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
>
>
>
> A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List sponsored by the
Society of American Archivists, www.archivists.org.
> For the terms of participation, please refer to
http://www.archivists.org/listservs/arch_listserv_terms.asp.
>
> To subscribe or unsubscribe, send e-mail to [log in to unmask]
> In body of message: SUB ARCHIVES firstname lastname
> *or*: UNSUB ARCHIVES
> To post a message, send e-mail to [log in to unmask]
>
> Or to do *anything* (and enjoy doing it!), use the web interface at
> http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/archives.html
>
> Problems? Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <[log in to unmask]>
>
> A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List sponsored by the
Society of American Archivists, www.archivists.org.
> For the terms of participation, please refer to
http://www.archivists.org/listservs/arch_listserv_terms.asp.
>
> To subscribe or unsubscribe, send e-mail to [log in to unmask]
> In body of message: SUB ARCHIVES firstname lastname
> *or*: UNSUB ARCHIVES
> To post a message, send e-mail to [log in to unmask]
>
> Or to do *anything* (and enjoy doing it!), use the web interface at
> http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/archives.html
>
> Problems? Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <[log in to unmask]>
>
A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List sponsored by the
Society of American Archivists, www.archivists.org.
For the terms of participation, please refer to
http://www.archivists.org/listservs/arch_listserv_terms.asp.
To subscribe or unsubscribe, send e-mail to [log in to unmask]
In body of message: SUB ARCHIVES firstname lastname
*or*: UNSUB ARCHIVES
To post a message, send e-mail to [log in to unmask]
Or to do *anything* (and enjoy doing it!), use the web interface at
http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/archives.html
Problems? Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <[log in to unmask]>
A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List sponsored by the Society of American Archivists, www.archivists.org.
For the terms of participation, please refer to http://www.archivists.org/listservs/arch_listserv_terms.asp.
To subscribe or unsubscribe, send e-mail to [log in to unmask]
In body of message: SUB ARCHIVES firstname lastname
*or*: UNSUB ARCHIVES
To post a message, send e-mail to [log in to unmask]
Or to do *anything* (and enjoy doing it!), use the web interface at
http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/archives.html
Problems? Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <[log in to unmask]>
A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List sponsored by the Society of American Archivists, www.archivists.org.
For the terms of participation, please refer to http://www.archivists.org/listservs/arch_listserv_terms.asp.
To subscribe or unsubscribe, send e-mail to [log in to unmask]
In body of message: SUB ARCHIVES firstname lastname
*or*: UNSUB ARCHIVES
To post a message, send e-mail to [log in to unmask]
Or to do *anything* (and enjoy doing it!), use the web interface at
http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/archives.html
Problems? Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <[log in to unmask]>