First Flash Flood, New Orleans, 4 April 2012

On the night of 3 April, 2012, New Orleans experienced its first flash flood of the year after heavy rains. This also happened to be the first flood I had experienced as a resident of the city. By midnight, the rain had stopped, leaving a serene quiet and only scattered, bright tufts of low fast-moving clouds standing out against orange streetlights and the purple glow of the central city.

The flood waters reached to the edge of the sidewalk in front of our house, falling just an inch or two short of the exhaust system of the Ford Explorer parked out in front. The adjacent street, a relatively large one, was almost entirely covered even in the left lane, although cars and trucks occasionally slogged by (the cars slowly and carefully, the trucks not so much). Most of the neighborhood cars were parked in the grass on that street's neutral ground (the green space between the two lane directions).

As the water slowly receded, I noticed little bubbling noises among other things, and saw several pockets of air bubbles rising above the water. Although I remain unsure of the source of these sounds, they lent a tranquility to the scene that contrasted sharply with the storm that had just blown through.

Recorded (sheepishly) with iPhone; levels raised slightly and fade-ins/fadeouts added, otherwise untreated.