Saturday, March 17, 2012

Flood March 17, 2012--Part 1

Woke up this morning all ready to exercise.  About 7:15 am Brienna had just left to help Gladys (and elderly lady she prepares meals for, gets her meds, & helps her out on weekends) when she came back & told us that Grandpa's yard was flooding.
(This is Grandpa's drive way & area in front of the bunkhouse & workshop)
 So I quickly pulled on my boots & headed out (in my sweats & sweatshirt).  I didn't make it back inside until about 11 am & we didn't finish up until 2 pm.
 The creek by our house--7:30 am (notice it is still a bit dark outside)
 Grandpa had me call the bishop to round up some help--we knew there would be others with flooding up and down the creek.  He had called our emergency coordinator, but only had a message.  So I went back in & called him.
 The creek running from Grandpa's backyard into our back yard (our back yards border each other).
 The front area.
 This is still about 7:30 am.
 Our yard--looking towards the creek & our workshop.
 At Grandpa's yard--we were loading a bunch of OSB boards he had stacked by the creek.  Thankfully he had them off the ground enough that they were still dry.  We loaded them onto a flatbed trailer & moved them.
 Grandpa's back yard & garden area--just behind the fence is the creek.
 Another view of our flooded yard.  The ice had built up so much over the winter & when it was warm, water would run on top of the ice, & then freeze when is turned cold again.  You can see the many layers of ice in some of the pictures.
 The white stuff is chunks of ice--they brought back hoes in & chopped the ice (where they could get access to the creek).  We had a big ice jam right behind our sheds & Grandpa's fence--where there is no (vehicle) access.
The creek flowed clear to our back hoe (which doesn't have a long enough arm to break apart much ice) & into the neighbor's yard across the street.

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