Hard to Believe: Four Funerals

From the Post Gazette:

"It's hard to believe those kind of events can still happen," said Tom Palmosina, co-director of the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority.

How it happened is a difficult question... because a nearly identical flood occurred there just a month ago and the three governments responsible for the infrastructure had already begun talking about how to fix the problem.

... ...

What makes Friday's flood, and a similar one July 18, more troubling is that none of the governments involved -- the PWSA, Alcosan, and PennDOT -- are sure what caused the problem, who is to blame, how to fix it, or if it can be fixed.

Water runs downhill. Highland Park is lower than the surrounding areas. Pavement accelerates water. Capacity costs money. These have all been known for decades.

Here's a thought: when the elected/professional people responsible can't believe it happens, don't know what happened, don't know how to fix it or who should fix it, then we've got (1) the wrong people responsible, (2) a low probability of improvement, and (3) a high likelihood of repetition.

The whole thing is hard to believe, particularly four funerals for people who drowned in the rain on a city street.