Friday, January 20, 2012

Some flood pictures

You guys probably all know the park I go to regularly. It is a huge expanse of open, green fields where we are allowed to have dogs off leash, which are also sporting fields for baseball, softball, and soccer during the summer. Pictures like these are generally from this park:





Sure, the river runs along side the park as well, but you have to go down a side path and then down a steep slope to get to the water.


Right now, this is what the driveway to get to the parking lot looks like.


You can't tell quite how deep this is, since you've never been there, but this picture gives you a bit of a better idea.


That yellow with the red on it, that's a standard size gate. And there is still a few feet more of a drop before getting to the flat part of the fields after that. So, the place where those beautiful grassy pictures above were taken? Probably under at least 3 feet of water, if not significantly more.

And, this park is just a short way away from my house. I haven't been home again yet (a friend still in the area took these pictures and gave me permission to share them), but my neighbor across the street tells me the water didn't get closer than a block away, so hopefully I won't have any flood damage when I get home.

Recent reports say the water is going down significantly. The main road to my part of town was completely cut off as of last night, requiring a hour+ long detour to get to the south end of town from the north end of town (normally a 5 minute drive at most). Back in the flood of '96, the entire south part of town was cut off for three days. This time, the flood levels seem to be dropping much faster, thankfully. Last I heard is that while some minor roads are still closed in town, all the main roads are reconnected. Severe flooding remains in parts of the county.

As the flood recedes, we have received warnings of high winds with gusts of up to 50 mph. With the water saturated soil, these high winds have a greater chance of taking down trees, making the county issue warnings of potential power outages. They are recommending that people put in a stock of food and fresh water (1 gallon per person per day) that does not need cooking or refrigeration for up to five days. So far, no drinking water alerts have been issued for the city.

Hoping everyone still in the flood areas is staying safe.

10 comments:

  1. Wow! I hope you guys are doing well and staying dry. We'll be thinking of you!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Crazy Oregon rain, Yikes! We live by Abernathy Creek. It was really high yesterday and washing over the road to our home. Much better today, thank goodness.
    Stay dry, Stay safe.

    Wyatt and Stanzie

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sounds terrible - hope your house will continue to be dry!! Mother Nature is amazing!

    Tail Wuggles, Rubie

    ReplyDelete
  4. Amazing.... Just AMAZING. There is NO other word FOR this sort of weather!! ;-]
    WILD winds?! THAT does not sound very fun.... Hopefully ZERO trees will fall in your property....
    I LOVED the pictures of Koira and Pallo!! SO EXPRESSIVE!! What kind of dogs are they?

    ReplyDelete
  5. How terrible. Thinking of you and your dogs! This is always a fear of mine - the "where will I go" if something like that happens?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Unbelievable!!I hope your house stays safe and you can return home soon.

    ReplyDelete
  7. First, you have taken some AMAZING pictures at this park. Seriously, they are unreal. Secod, I hope your house is safe and dry and there are no surprises when you get back to it!

    ReplyDelete
  8. I'm curiousto know how long it will take for all the water to recede where the park can be usable again. So crazy. I'm VERY thankful I live at top part of crystal lake so luckily no flooding at my house

    ReplyDelete
  9. Yikes! I've been around snowstorms, tornadoes and forest fires but I've never experienced a flood, it's a scary thing. I hope it starts to recede soon! And the worst part is, you and the dogs can't use the park :(

    ReplyDelete
  10. I know that park in the last pic. I took a funny photo of it in the 2005 floods. Some people were paddling around the soccer fields in their kayak:

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/cyborgsuzy/81747275/

    ReplyDelete