Under water: This time in Texas

Here is another story of a cemetery under water from flooding/weather. This one is in Texas. This link doesn't include the whole story, so if you are in the neighborhood, please buy the newspaper. They'll appreciate it.

Va. cemetery flooded, filled with debris

Trash is only part of what's flooded a cemetery in Virginia, parts of which are under standing water.

Flooding season: A request to readers

With this news out of North Dakota that the Red River is rising, I ask readers of this blog to keep me in the loop if any cemeteries are hit by the annual spring floods. Please send me information to the blog's contact address, and please let me know if you have a link to photos online. I'll link to your photo galleries, and to any news reports of cemeteries damaged by flooding.
Thanks.

Photo: September flooding in Illinois

Found this on someone's Flickr site. Photo taken Sept. 15, 2008. The caption says:

"Between Friday and Sunday we were hit with a massive rainfall. We broke the highest rainfall record record for a 24 hour period which went back to 1871. The Des Plaines River is in serious flood stage, the water is all over the Western edge of Concordia."

Upstate New York cemetery has flooding woes

Visitors are upset that the St. Stanislaus Cemetery in Cheektowaga, New York, has drainage problems, which are causing flooding problems on the grounds.

Sinkhole at Rhode Island cemetery

This problem is caused by heavy rains and flooding, say cemetery officials. Here is another report on the same situation.

Photo, caption from EastbayRI.com: Photo: Christine Hochkeppel
The sinkhole that formed at St. Mary's Cemetery is 10 feet wide in spots, more than 70 feet long and as deep as three feet.

Cemeteries and Flooding: A mapping project

Please scroll down to the bottom of this page, to see the beginnings of a map I'm creating to mark cemeteries hit by flooding, either by natural disaster (green marker) or manmade problems, such as sprawl or runoff (red marker). As I discover more cemeteries, they will be marked; new categories may be created.

Research request: Cemeteries and Flooding

My schedule for the early part of the coming year appears flexible enough to begin some research in the area of cemeteries and the impact of flooding and runoff.
I recently posted an item about the Catholic Cemeteries of Brooklyn filing a civil complaint against the city over flood damage to St. John Cemetery, in Middle Village, because of poor drainage.
For my class work a couple of years ago, I found a story about a very old cemetery along the Chesapeake Bay that, because of rising waters/climate change, is now seeing some of its graves washed into the bay. The video is particularly poignant.
What I am seeking now is similar information -- anecdotal or scientific -- about other cemeteries, so that I can compile some data and perhaps start analyzing it with GIS.
Some folks may be familiar with a landmark study from Temple University, dated August 2006, where they used GIS to determine that FEMA maps for the area of Pennypack Watershed in the Philadelphia area were inadequate, and that flooding potential was actually worse than what FEMA data would indicate. While much of the Temple study involved roads, businesses, housing, etc., I'm sure that overdevelopment can impact cemeteries, as well, with runoff and other problems.
I appreciate any leads you can send my way.
Thanks.

Brooklyn cemetery seeks $$ from city for flood damage

The Catholic Cemeteries of Brooklyn has filed a complaint against the city saying that stormwater runoff has caused millions of dollars in damage over the years. The organization says that St. John Cemetery, in Middle Village, is flooded because of poor drainage along Metropolitan Avenue. It is seeking $10 million, plus $25 million in punitive damages. Reports the Queens Chronicle:

The flooding has damaged the cemetery gate, a number of trees and maybe
even graves, said Father Kieran Harrington, spokesman for the Roman Catholic
Diocese of Brooklyn, which includes Queens.

Hurricane Ike impact still being felt in Gulf Coast cemeteries

This story is a little old, but it bears mentioning anyway: Dozens of caskets unearthed during Hurricane Ike have not been reburied. This site includes video.
And here is an article from the San Francisco Chronicle detailing some of the problems in Louisiana.

Flooding at Connecticut cemetery; rising water table to blame?

Standing pools of water have caused graves in a Middletown, Connecticut, cemetery to deteriorate, tombstones to tumble.