~We Didn't Drown~

Not sure if any of you have followed the weather news about our area this week. Brianna's government teacher told them that they have now had 3 - 100 year floods since 1996 - 2 of them in the past 2 years. Imagine that... Remember all my snow pictures? Well, there was WAY more snow in the mountains and then it started warming up enough for it to start melting - with a vengeance - and add to that LOTS and LOTS of rain non-stop for DAYS and DAYS and it was a recipe for disaster in the lowlands. During times like this, our local Snohomish River often becomes Snohomish Lake - especially when there are breeches in the dikes. So with a couple breeches, plus just WAY more water than the river could hold, here is what happens. On Thursday, the kids who lived on the other side of the valley (the flats by the river) had gotten released from the high school 2 hours early before the river was breeched and they had called for seniors who wanted to help sandbag during 2nd period, Brianna said. I picked up Brianna and Kenzie from school and we went over to see where the waters were rising and to take pictures for the yearbook.

This is at the soccer fields. The partial house and deck on the left of this pic is the soccer house (typically has a 10 foot clearance below that deck you see.) Off in the distance is a garage about 10 feet under with the white concession trailer floating next to it:

Closer up:

A lone soccer ball floating in the fields:

Stranded cows:

Kayakers preparing to take advantage of the new water recreation available in the area:

This is normally dry ground and pavement: Aren't they tricky? This sign is typically at a normal height on the road - approximately 10 feet up:

Notice houses on the left engulfed by water:

As we head home from the town of Snohomish, we travel through another lowland area as we head to our own area of Machias. The roads along the right of the road have the Pilchuck River (which flows in to the Snohomish River) in their back yard. The waters were rising and surrounding a number of these homes: These couple pics are taken from the bridge over the Pilchuck River, a few minutes downhill from our home (this river's about twice as wide as it normally is):

There is normally at least a 15+ clearance under this bridge. It was running extremely fast:

School was cancelled on Friday and highway 9 is currently still closed and so is highway 203 that Paul typically takes to work. I can somewhat fathom how it all happened in the days of Noah a bit better now...