All-Powerful Mother Nature

The image to the left isn't from some new movie or television show. That was one instance of the sky over Manitoba last night, and the storm that hit the southern portion of the province left behind a pile of problems including flooding and power outages for many people. I am happy to report that HBIC Headquarters suffered no major damage, but I am very limited in my efforts to do anything surrounding this blog thanks to having no internet for a second day. I do realize that this is a first-world problem and my complaining about it matters zero in the grand scheme of things when farmers are trying to put their lives back together and people try to clean up following the localized monsoon that hit. I'm hopeful that everyone was able to remain safe.

It became apparent to me after getting home from the ballpark last night during the initial rainstorm just how fragile some of our infrastructure is and how much we rely upon it to ensure we're well-informed. My cell phone was working fine, but a power outage in the north portion of the city killed power to a cell tower that is near my workplace, causing people all sorts of difficulties. Stuff like that shouldn't happen, but it does. Will anyone address it? Hard to say.

What I can say is that I am writing this article while using my phone's hotspot because internet at HBIC HQ has not be restored since it went out on Tuesday night. As per my internet service provider, the outage is apparently known, but there is no ETA on service being restored. I get the crews and technicians are busy, but inclement weather doesn't care about whether I have a wifi signal or not. I'd like to know if we're aiming for more storms tonight so I can be ready.

I'm off to the ballpark again tonight, so internet won't be a huge issue for me. The double-header scheduled for this evening will likely keep me at the ballpark until close to midnight, so I doubt I'll be worrying about internet when I get home. It just makes me think how, for all the technological and engineering advancements we've made, we still haven't solved a simple matter like power and internet outages.

Hopefully, there won't be a torrential downpour tonight like there was last night. A quick sprint across the parking lot to get to my car saw me drenched by the time I got in my vehicle, and the flooding on streets seemed to happen quickly. Knowing how fast that flooding happened is pretty scary knowing that some communities had very little time to prepare for the rising waters. Living in the "information age" is worthless if the medium for that information isn't available.

Stay safe and dry out there, folks. Mother Nature remains undefeated when she wants to unleash her fury, and not being able to access the information as to what might be coming can be devastating.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!