Natural Disaster
When we bought the place, we knew that a flood was possible, but we didn't really give it a second thought. We're close to the mountain, the house is dope, and we're not even on the main river. So how bad could it get.
The question we didn't think twice about was answered yesterday with over 9" of rain, and a small creek that turned from 5 feet wide, to 100 feet wide within 3 hours.
We're fine. We didn't get hit with the worst of it. There were houses within 5 miles of us that were completely demolished -- sucked into the river by a raging torrent of water that wouldn't relent. Our biggest challenge of the day -- deciding to stay or go. The main road to our house, E LOLO PASS, was in jeopardy of being washed out at a point that would have cut us off from the world. We stood by the side of the river as it chewed one full lane out of the road. The ODOT crew that was out there was ready to pull the plug and block it off if there was any more erosion. We decided to drop one car (with bags of clothes and supplies) down at the Thriftway in case we had to hike out on foot if the road closed. After dropping the car, we loaded the RAV with sandbags and brought them back up to the house to help our neighbor John shore up the front of his guest house -- the river had made it's way high enough to put it in jeopardy.
This was the craziest thing we have seen up here, or maybe anywhere. 100 foot tall trees, falling into the river, being swept downstream like they were a toothpick headed for a sewer drain on a rainy day. Mother Nature rules this place, don't think otherwise. We're just a bunch of guests.
Highway 35 has been demolished. The pictures in the news make it look like it could be months before passage is re-opened around the mountain. They're bringing in the engineering staff and road crews tomorrow to get a real assessment.
The only positive out of the whole thing... we had a rotting foot bridge over our little creek behind our house. I was going to have to remove it (somehow, really wasn't sure how), and build a new one... but the storm surge did it for me. Wiped it clean. It was never there.
Here's a picture for you. If I wasn't on dial-up, you'd be getting a video right now. This is taken at the spot on E LOLO where half the road fell into the river. You couldn't even see the river from this point before... it was completely tree-lined. All of those trees are probably in Astoria by now. Crazy.
It's getting colder... snow is on the way. Looks like we could have up to 12" on Timberline by the end of the week. Come on up to the cababin for a visit... the road's still open.
The question we didn't think twice about was answered yesterday with over 9" of rain, and a small creek that turned from 5 feet wide, to 100 feet wide within 3 hours.
We're fine. We didn't get hit with the worst of it. There were houses within 5 miles of us that were completely demolished -- sucked into the river by a raging torrent of water that wouldn't relent. Our biggest challenge of the day -- deciding to stay or go. The main road to our house, E LOLO PASS, was in jeopardy of being washed out at a point that would have cut us off from the world. We stood by the side of the river as it chewed one full lane out of the road. The ODOT crew that was out there was ready to pull the plug and block it off if there was any more erosion. We decided to drop one car (with bags of clothes and supplies) down at the Thriftway in case we had to hike out on foot if the road closed. After dropping the car, we loaded the RAV with sandbags and brought them back up to the house to help our neighbor John shore up the front of his guest house -- the river had made it's way high enough to put it in jeopardy.
This was the craziest thing we have seen up here, or maybe anywhere. 100 foot tall trees, falling into the river, being swept downstream like they were a toothpick headed for a sewer drain on a rainy day. Mother Nature rules this place, don't think otherwise. We're just a bunch of guests.
Highway 35 has been demolished. The pictures in the news make it look like it could be months before passage is re-opened around the mountain. They're bringing in the engineering staff and road crews tomorrow to get a real assessment.
The only positive out of the whole thing... we had a rotting foot bridge over our little creek behind our house. I was going to have to remove it (somehow, really wasn't sure how), and build a new one... but the storm surge did it for me. Wiped it clean. It was never there.
Here's a picture for you. If I wasn't on dial-up, you'd be getting a video right now. This is taken at the spot on E LOLO where half the road fell into the river. You couldn't even see the river from this point before... it was completely tree-lined. All of those trees are probably in Astoria by now. Crazy.
It's getting colder... snow is on the way. Looks like we could have up to 12" on Timberline by the end of the week. Come on up to the cababin for a visit... the road's still open.
posted by B.Reed at
9:35 PM
1 Comments:
dude, glad you are both ok. from the photos I saw, things got pretty sketchy out your way. stoked that it is all on the east side of Hood and not the west.
take care. talk to you in a few weeks when we get back from vacation.
By
Anonymous, at 7:50 PM
Post a Comment
<< Home