Marked: Safe

 It's been all over the news about the massive flooding here in the PNW.  The county where I live was hit particularly hard and broke all previous records. Now this area is prone to flooding during winter and it is remarkably a big reason why agriculture is so successful in this county.  Some flooding is normal but this was not.

And right now I'm listening to the rain absolutely pour outside. 

But this was one of the big ones. So, a little history.

In 1990, there was what was called a 100-year flood.  There wasn't a town in the entire county that wasn't impacted by water.  We helped sandbag until we were called away because a dike broke, flooding mostly farmland but also one little town and a few other what would be called hamlets.  (remnants of former towns, now just more of a neighborhood)

To the credit of the people and the local governing bodies, afterward they went into action to make sure this kind of damage never happened again.  The creativity and science that has been put into place is remarkable.

There is a floodwall structure that is erected when needed and it literally holds the water away from an entire downtown.   In conjunction, a riverwalk was designed and built; it doubles as an aesthetic tourist area and flood prevention.  Then, of course, building and reinforcement of the dike system that runs from the mountains all the way to the bay.

And they learned from mistakes and flaws. They found pressure points where the force of the water was just too much and either reinforced the dike system or allowed the water to be redirected or both.  It was as if the entire county was a sandbox and folks just spent their time creating scenarios, finding the weak points and creating solutions.

The tactic that they employed that fascinates me is the science of it.  There was a designated flood plain, noting all the places where it will always flood no matter what implements humans may employ. They mapped that if one area HAS to be protected, be it downtown or a high population area, then determining what around that area could feasibly be flooded with minimal damage.   If houses were within that flood plain, they were encouraged to not be or take extreme precautions to prevent damage.  As in houses with six foot foundations or picked up and moved to higher points on the property.  In some cases, properties were bought by the county and torn down.  

In one epic case, an entire town is slowly being moved to safety.  Hamilton

The city park where I take Lucy is in the flood plain. It's allowed to flood every year to help alleviate pressure downstream.  As a result, it's a beautiful park with large soccer and baseball fields and multi-use sites.  They took a necessity and made it useful.  Then repeated that plan throughout the county.

Right now, this is all river.

Then there's the tribal lawsuit for fish passage. (link here)  Tribes sued and won against the state for blocking waterways in order to build the freeway and highways.  The state now has to remove the blockages and replace them with waterways and in some cases, fish ladders.  In fact, my little area is currently in the process of having three areas within a two mile radius completed.  

And while that seems random in this context, these improvements also aided in flood management during this time and it verifiably helped.  

Then there is social media.  It became a beacon of information, notifying people where the flooding was expected or happening, what resources were available, and communication. It worked as social media was intended.  There were also mass texts sent to anyone in the area to evacuate.  Kevin was on his way home on the freeway and received one, just because he was passing through the area.

Yet, because we live in the dumbest timeline, there were naysayers and deniers. I will never understand that we live in a world that feels science is up for debate. They quibbled over phrasing "Why is it an 'atmospheric river' now when we used to call it the Pineapple Express?"  (because SCIENCE not colloquilisms,  you knuckledragger)   There was a bit of "It's not going to be that bad. I made it through before..." bravado until they finally deployed the national guard to escort those folks from the area; if they weren't already rescued by emergency services.  Then there's the self-serving "Prayers!" posts that clog the posts when people are just looking for information.  

The government declined the first two requests for federal aid.  It was granted the day after the governor called it out during a televised press conference.  Love that for us.

We had two friends in the evacuation zones.  One decided to stay and we are still in disbelief.  They're safe, somehow.  The other evacuated to a nearby small town and then it flooded all around that town so he couldn't leave.   We live way up high so this risk doesn't apply to us.  This comes with some guilt that people are struggling while we live up out of danger.  Oh, and not a single loss of life at this point and that's amazing.

Then just when we thought it was over, a slough overflowed into town.  They're handling that and now we're back in a county-wide flood watch with a bonus: wind advisory.  Oh, and two small earthquakes way up river.  

2025 needs to see itself out sooner rather than later.