Yesterday's and today's rain had brought the floodwaters up to the embankment, like a bathtub filled to the brim, ready to overflow at any moment.
The shopkeepers began preparing for flooding as soon as they opened in the morning, but compared to the flood, what people found even more irritating were those cruise ships taller than buildings.
This time, it was not one ship entering the lagoon, but three. Whenever their massive hulls moved through the lagoon's canals, Pomona worried they might crash into those ancient buildings.
Muggles were not like this in the seventies. Back then, people opposed war. Now, people considered it reasonable to wage war for crude oil. Ships, cars, and planes all needed fuel to run, and there were even claims that global warming was caused by methane released by cow farts, not pollution from automobile exhaust.
To curb disasters, everyone had to eat less meat. Let's all become vegetarians.
It was the same logic as when the Crusades were launched in the Middle Ages, when monks called upon believers to live frugally and donate their money for military expenses so they could go to Heaven.
Who knew whether cow farts smelled worse or liars' mouths did? Or perhaps they were taking the opportunity to reduce the number of cattle being raised, to prevent prions from spreading further.
Prions had only one route of transmission: cannibalism among the same species. Back then, to reduce feed costs, cow bones had been ground up and made into feed for cattle.
Destroying prions was extremely troublesome. It was not enough to bury them deep or simply burn them. Disposing of the carcasses of infected cattle and cattle suspected of carrying the virus cost a great deal of money. Rumor had it that the carcasses of those mad cows had