PNW natives are used to this. We know where not to live if we don't enjoy replacing all of our stuff every few years. The areas that flood are usually the farmlands and small towns up in the mountains.
Sandbagging is almost a required skill for many PNW citizens. You can't have lived here long with out experiencing that grueling task.
Why, yes, I have sandbagged...and not in the Republican way. Actually shovels, actual burlap bags, actual sore backs, arms, legs, and everything else. If it weren't for the dire consequences, it's actually kind of fun.
When Kevin & first began dating it was 1990 and the year of the 100 Year Flood. I remember a bunch of us getting into trucks and heading down to Conway to sand bag. The radio was making constant, panicked requests for volunteers.
The fire department saw strong men and immediately put them on trucks to go out on what they call the island. They made me stay at the fire department where I filled bags and helped distribute food.
Hours later the boys returned looking grim. They'd no sooner got off the truck when a boat came up and the officers told everyone to evacuate. The dike had broken. We loaded up & headed home, disappointed and worried. We watched on television as everything went underwater. Even my friend Brads house went under, what a mess. There wasn't a person that wasn't effected by the flooding in some way. Kevin's work was underwater and the flood resulted in the company's demise a few months later.
The other sandbagging experience was a few years ago...gosh, 2005? I think...Brother Dear called with just a hint of panic in his voice. He lives in a dike district that floods often and works for the fire department so he was "in the know". The dike was at great risk of giving way near his house so he asked me to go get his girls & take them to the parents. Yikes.
I took flood routes (like snow routes) to the brothers house, bundled up the girls and took them to the parents. Then returned to the fire department to sand-bag. Brother Dear wavered between pleased & worried.
I can still see the setting in my head. Everyone working with tractors, sand, bags, shovels, and most of us strangers. Someone said something and we all looked. Like something out of an action movie, here came striding in was the Army Corps of Engineers. Looking like National Guard, they reorganized people and sent many home. Like before, there were warnings that if you lived in the neighborhood to get home & pack. Brother Dear sent me home at this point.
Can I just acknowledge how powerless you feel? There's just nothing to be done in a situation like that. Worry. Listen to the radio and watch the news. Wait for the phone to ring.
The dikes held but it was close, very close. Brother Dear said that there were two places that if you touched the side of the dike it would undulate like a waterbed. He said that it was the most unreal feeling and sight.
So, present time, Kevin got to work today at 6:45 am and was immediately in a truck to help truck down rocks to shore up the flood wall that protects the town of Stanwood. All day he trucked back & forth, hauling rock. He said it is very stressful because of the traffic, the police escorts, the television crews, and just the situation. He's exhausted tonight, already asleep.
This is the news video and this is incredible video of the river that is causing all of Stanwood's woes.
The rain had stopped but is due to begin again, only not as severe. The damage is done and now everyone just has to be patient. Depending on how the night goes, Kevin could be right back in a truck tomorrow. we hope not.
I took this picture of our creek this morning. I couldn't get a shot yesterday because it was raining too damn hard. The water was higher yesterday, for sure but you get the idea. the stuff that looks like smoke in the upper right corner? Mix of fog and rain. We live at 750 ft elevation and get that sometimes.
We can be thankful that if our house ever floods so is, oh, the Entire World.
1 comment:
holy too much water batman.
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