I haven't posted in awhile, things got a little crazy like they sometimes do and I couldn't find a spare moment. Now, thanks to Mother Nature I was reminded to slow down and take some time to enjoy the things I like to do. Like reading peoples blogs and finding things to post about myself.
Mother Nature, I think, thought we were enjoying just a little too much of her Autumn finery and decided to remind us how powerful she can really be.
Pineapple Express....sounds so lovely....a quick trip to the Hawaiian Islands and all it's beauty.....NOT. Torrential non-stop rain, accompanied by winds up to 45 MPH. Our rivers were pretty full anyway due to all the rain we had received earlier.
I started watching the hydrographs at work....trying to judge when I should make a break for home. We don't have to worry about our home being flooded living up on the side of the mountain like we do, but the road to get there can sometime become part of the Skykomish River.
I started getting itchy feet, and doing my mother hen impression (worrying about her young 'uns) knowing that I couldn't leave my animals alone for who knew how many days. So I left earlier than I needed to, the river was high but hadn't overflowed it's banks. It didn't matter I was SO relieved to be pulling into my driveway.
I started watching the news and soon there was serious flooding everywhere. I got an automated reverse 911 call warning me that I may need to evacuate. (They send them to everyone with-in so many miles of the river). Of course I didn't need to evacuate but I started worrying about the people and animals that did. Lots of the farmland is flood zone and I've heard horror stories of cows and horses floating down the river. Here is a slideshow of pics taken by viewers of KIRO news: http://www.kirotv.com/slideshow/weather/17964192/detail.html (you'll have to copy and paste....for some reason it wouldn't do a link for me....I'm still kinda computer illiterate....)
The local fairgrounds opened up for displaced cows and horses and wound up with a few zebras to boot.
One thing about Mother Nature is she sure can have a way of bringing people together. There were the very young and the very old filling and setting up sandbags to try and keep some of the water at bay. Citizens with a boat would risk their lives getting to neighbors to help them leave their homes. Police, Fire, Search and Rescue all put in long hours. Churches and other facilities opened their door to people that could not stay in their homes. Food banks asked for and received supplies.
It's time like this that my faith in humanity gets restored.
More news, the water flowing over Snoqualmie Falls was hard to fathom. Huge trees looked like sticks flowing over the falls. Here's a video of the falls: http://www.kirotv.com/video/17972267/index.html They even had some footage of Ben Howard Rd (the one I live off of) with a Subaru the was stuck in the middle of the flood (fortunately the owner looked like they were able to be rescued) and there was a black lifted 4x4 that had second thoughts about trying to make it through and ended up backing out before he got very far.
The thing is, once the river starts flowing over the road it obscures the lines and you really can't see the road very well. Being as they are country roads they have huge ditches on the side and if you were to drive off into one of these your chance of drowning increases considerably. I enjoy having a paycheck as much as the next person, but really, if your not alive to cash it what's the point?
I stayed home, cozied up to the fire with my dogs and cats. I had made sure everyone else (sheep, etc) had a dry place to be, and waited for it to end.
I drove down this morning to see what the road/river looked like. The Subaru was still there, the river was down considerably but not enough for me to attempt crossing it so I stayed home from work another day.
The rivers have all crested and are returning to their banks. People will be heading home to start the clean-up. I am just grateful that all my animals are safe and we all survived with nothing more than a little waterlogged wool and feathers.
