A Great Coastal City Evacuation

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Photo Copyright: Na’ama Yehuda

Here we are again and this week we’re gathered near a long line on a rainy day. We’ve come together to discuss our original stories for the week. This is the Friday Fictioneer’s group. Our hostess for the gathering is the talented and gracious author and artist, Rochelle Wisoff-Fields. The challenge for each of us this week and every week is to write a story with no more than 100 words, not counting the title. It’s supposed to have a beginning, middle, end, and be inspired by the picture prompt for the week. This week’s prompt was provided by Na’ama Yehuda. Thanks, Na’ama. To read the other stories by group members, just click on the link below, then on the smiling frog. Next, follow the given directions.

27 September 2019

Genre: Apocalyptic Sci-Fi

Word Count: 99 Words

A Great Coastal City Evacuation by P.S. Joshi

 

It was 2040. Rain began but didn’t stop. After two days, warnings for an evacuation began.

First, to leave by bus or private cars. Soon, the news carried a more ominous sign.

“People of New York City and other major coastal cities, ocean barriers are being breached. We’ll open them soon. On several docks, U.S. Navy ships are lining up for sea evacuation. Highways are jammed. Don’t go that way. We’re moving the present evacuation centers back for miles. Nearby airports are closing.”

Many staunch climate change deniers were forced to face the truth. Some panicked. It was expected.

53 thoughts on “A Great Coastal City Evacuation”

  2. Thanks, J. Yes, and they better start soon. Holland and London, England already have them. I fear though, as, in my story, they’ll be breached in time. They’d have to build one all the way around Florida. Someone wrote if President Trump plans to retire to his home there, he better be able to swim. As usual, big companies will make money. I’m glad you liked the story. 🙂 — Suzanne

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  4. Dear Suzanne,

    You don’t really believe that hogwash about climate change, do you? Just because the desert in NM is suffering high humidity and the glaciers are melting? I only hope the deniers don’t have to face the truth when it’s too late (if it isn’t already). Good story.

    Shalom,

    Rochelle

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  5. Thanks, Rochelle. All I can say is I’m glad my children and their families don’t live near a coast, at least not yet. I wonder how many deniers don’t admit to believing because they benefit monetarily from denying. Lying for some has become a way of life. —- Suzanne

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    • Thanks, Iain. The younger people are worried because they’re the ones who will live to see the worst. I worry about my children and their children. Some leaders are hopeless. Whether out of fear or some so-called advantage they are frozen in place. Others will have to work around them and leave them behind like rocks in the dirt. Many will suffer because of their failure to move forward. —- Suzanne

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  7. Yep. As a New Yorker living on an island in the middle of a bay with little room for water to go but up, I can relate to the very plausible possibility. Choppers from the top of buildings might work well, too … Oy vey.
    How anyone can still ignore the realities of Climate Change, I don’t know. But then again, some do stick their head in the (wet) sand.

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    • Thanks, Dale. Greta is sounding the warning but it seems some are deaf to it. Hopefully, it will help. I hope for the sake of my children and their families and others enough will listen and do something. Here in Chennai, all reservoirs ran dry and nothing much effective was done to stop it. Finally, trains filled with water tanks were sent. This is a sad story of too little, almost too late. This should be a warning if people pay attention. People cannot just sit and “wait” for help to come like children. —- Suzanne

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    • Thanks, Keith. If you live on a cliff you might want to find out if it’s eroding. Some are in certain places. If you live in a small house, you may be able to have it moved to a location farther inland. If you rent, you may want to check on other places. I very much doubt I’ll be around as I was born in 1941. I do worry about my children and their children. So far I only have one granddaughter. Neither of my children and their families lives near the coast (as yet). People in the British Isles may have a freshwater problem I read. No problem if desalinization plants are built. —- Suzanne

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      • I live close to white chalk cliffs and they eroding at an alarming rate – several houses have been abandoned or demolished. Like you I was a child of the 40’s, but unlike you I do have kids and grandkids living by the sea. Right now the waves are crashing up the beach so I’m staying indoors!

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    • Thanks, Abhijit. It’s actually never too late to change a position on some things. If possible, those fit enough need to get busy and do whatever they can. I believe in prayer, but also believe we were gifted with common sense and expected to use it. I do what I can and leave the rest to the Supreme Being. —- Suzanne

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    • Thanks, Bernadette. I’ve watched the TV and seen how short a time it sometimes takes things to change. I didn’t have enough words to give a day by day progression. That said, once water is involved it takes little time for things to progress from bad to worse. In my story, it had been raining and the barriers built were giving way. Not only the rain but the progressing rise in sea levels had been happening for some time before the story takes place. —- Suzanne

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    • Thanks, Liz. That person doesn’t want to admit it because it affects the jobs many of his voters work at. We have to look at it that way as he is the President of his voters only it seems. Someone remarked if he plans to retire to his home in Florida, he better be able to swim. Also, a person that wealthy doesn’t need to worry for the future as he can live anywhere in comfort and is elderly. You would think he’d worry about his younger family members. We know by now how little the plight of islanders seems to worry him. —- Suzanne

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    • Thanks, Bear. You’re right. It is scary. I’m a realist and can’t close my eyes and ears to what’s happening and how it’s affecting people. I’m glad you liked the story so much. I highly respect Native Americans and other indigenous peoples and how close to nature they’ve remained. We should all have taken that example to heart. Maybe now the rest of us will with the new knowledge we’re gained from scientists. —- Suzanne

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    • Thanks, Shrawley. Much of what you say is correct. For years now we’ve read about the flooding and seen other signs of warning and paid little attention because it seemed so far away from us. The children have shaken us awake from our slumber but they need lots of help from those older than them. All those older who are physically and mentally able need to roll up their sleeves and do what they can. It isn’t going to help to shrug and give up. Sadly, many politicians are more concerned with money and power than whether they’ll be able to breathe in the future. The voters need to light a virtual fire under them with their votes and get all of them moving in the right direction. I’m glad you liked my story. I try to do what I can. I’m elderly but concerned for the younger members of my family and my friends. —- Suzanne

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    • Thanks, James. I hope to heck the unexpected happens concerning our work on efforts to slow down climate change or at least improve our chances against it. People ignore what they think is far in the future or not near them. They should now be aware that climate changes are neither. They will affect all of us and no doubt sooner than we once thought. They are affecting many right now. At present, this is just a story, but it could be in the news before too many more years. Several weeks ago, a train of water tanks had to be sent into Chennai, India as all their reservoirs had gone dry and there was little groundwater left. That’s now, not in the future. —- Suzanne

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    • Thanks, Plaridel. We can’t be worried about the deniers. We’ll always have them with us. Those of us who use our common sense and brains need to roll up our sleeves and get to work. It’s long past the starting time. We can’t afford to let the deniers be a drag on us. We are all gifted in one way or another and need to use what we can to help. —- Suzanne

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  24. Great story. Mother nature changes all the time.

    I’m all for protecting the planet (less plastic, pollution etc). However, my mind isn’t made up one way or another. It’s become political… The science contradictory. When they start talking about the taboo issues of certain demographics over breeding thus driving up the human population, the big world polluters and consumer society (seriously, we don’t need all this stuff), I’ll make up my mind.

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    • Thanks, Tannille. The extreme weather is real to me, not political. We’ve never before had the terrible storms and the extreme heat that’s lasted for five years now. I’m 78 and have never seen it like this before. The polar ice caps are melting and not stopping for the first time in my 78 years. The sea level is rising and that’s not politics. It’s got me sold. —- Suzanne

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    • Thanks, Sascha. I know what you mean. In all my long life I’ve never seen weather like we’ve been having the world over. The storms, fires, meltings, flooding, high temperatures, etc. have been happening much more often. —- Suzanne

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