Flood, 2008

Thursday and Rising
The best part about a flood is when the roads close and there’s no more traffic noise. Ah.

Our road from the driveway, looking south

We had about 4 inches of rain 2-3 days ago and it’s just now making its way downstream... with a vengeance. Similar rainfall in summer wouldn't be an issue, but frozen ground and sleeping trees that don't drink much make for fast rising water.

We’re dry for now. The back room is the lowest point in the house and the place that has historically flooded. O remodeled after the last flood, with concrete block and a watertight door. The room will be tested tonight and tomorrow. More to come the next couple days.

Friday
We set the alarm for 3:00 to check on things. All’s dry, inside, anyway. Can’t go back to sleep. Around 10:00, O decides to go canoeing, much to my dismay. Thankfully, he did not get swept away.

1:00 and it’s seeping into the back room. Intermittent phone and internet access. It’s supposed to crest any time now, but there’s a small chance of rain tonight, and tomorrow night the temps plummet to way below freezing. Will update as possible. O’s been through this many times and knows what he’s doing so I’m not tooooo worried.

From the road, wearing waders

Saturday and Finally Falling
The river crested last night, remained steady throughout the night, and starting receding this morning. So slowly. It's easier to enjoy the power and glory of Nature when you know it’ll only get better from here.

From the kitchen window, like being on a boat, but no place to dock

We scooped, mopped, and squeegeed 100 gallons out of the lowest room; the rest of the house is dry.

It’s been fun to watch the critters not miss a beat: birds never stopped hitting the feeders and squirrels just take to the treetops and aren’t limited at all by the fact that there’s no ground to run on. We even saw the first spring migrants yesterday - dozens of grackles landed on a spit of high ground.

Sunday Frozen
The wind chill is -7F/-22C but the wind is gusting to 40mph/66kph so it feels more like absolute zero. "Brrrr" is inadequate (and I ~like~ cold!). I had to take my photos a bit sideways to keep my eyeballs from freezing.

We’re able to get out of the driveway, through just a few inches of frozen water. Massive logs and roots came with the floodwater and came close to blocking the driveway and road but we only had to move a few manageable logs. There are whitecaps on the field water across the road. The road out of the valley is somewhat icy but open, so we don’t feel so trapped.