Flood March 18--Round 2 (Part 3)

This is looking west from the corner of the old highway & 5th St.  

 The water was diverted from the house across the road (on the south side) & went as far as the announcer's stand on the football field.

 This is looking north on the corner of the old highway & 5th St. Sunday morning around 7:45 am (the sun was just coming up over the mountains).

 More ice chunks being scooped out of the water.

 I guess since we didn't get a lot of snow this year, they decided to make up for it by plowing ice?  (ha, ha)

 Another look as the sun rises.

 The front of Grandpa's house at 9 am.  It was good to see the water gone.  He only had a little water come into the basement.  Cody was up for the weekend to spend the night with Grandpa, so he didn't get to sleep in at all.  Tammie & Mike came up along with Belinda & Doug & their boys.  They helped rip up the carpet in the downstairs bedroom & clean up.

 Looking at the "small" puddle that was left at 9 am in Grandpa's yard/driveway.

 The creek was down a couple feet by 9 am.  Although it looks high still, it wasn't clear to the banks.  

 There was no water under the ice--the ice now was the "new" banks of the creek.

Another look at the creek (the corner of the workshop is on the very left).  It looks more like the creek when it runs in the spring (well--except for the ice).

Flood March 18--Round 2 (Part 2)

As soon as they broke up the ice jam between our house & Grandpa's, the water from both yards quickly receded.

 I wish it had been lighter so you could have seen how much water was in the yards.

 Ice chunks & pieces of the tree (that was broken off with the back hoe) floating down stream.

 The back corner of our workshop/shed--water flowing over & through the sand bags.

 Flooding by our house (work shop directly to the left).  This is around 5:30 am.

 This is blurry, but a ton of ice is heading downstream.

 And within 15 minutes, the creek dropped a foot or 2.

 More ice & debris 

 Breaking up one more big ice jam behind our shed/workshop.

 Another big branch from the tree.

 The water dropping (or really the ice is gone off the bottom of the creek bed now so the water can flow like it should).

 Hard to see in this picture, but the water has dropped.

 If you look across the creek, you can see how much the water dropped.  It is getting closer to 7 am (getting lighter).

 And just like that, the water is almost gone.

 Until we get downstream.  This is 2 blocks south--we are on the old highway looking south.  (To the right is the football field/school)

The 5th St. bridge (which is now condemned).  This is where a lot of the ice was backing up.  The machines were working all night scooping ice out of the creek & breaking up as much as they could.  This is around 7:30 am (Sunday morning).

Flood March 18--Round 2

After going to bed around 1 am (last check of the creek was around 12:45 am & it looked like it had dropped an inch or so), we woke up to a phone call at 5 am from the Sheriff's office.

 They told us we had flooding in our yard so we hopped out of bed, threw on some clothes (& boots) & headed outside.  This was our back yard.

 Front yard.  There was more water in our yard than last night

 We realized that Grandpa's yard would have more water also, because most of our flooding came from his yard.  

 Within 15 minutes, he had water into his garage.  Bart May (sheriff) had about 6 sand bags left on his truck so he called another truck (Fitzwater's) & there were there within minutes.  (Gotta love a small town & every one's willingness to help out--even at early, early hours).

 Keith's work shop--it got a couple of inches of water in there too.

 Before we could get the sandbags, water started seeping into the basement from the garage--and also from all of the other sides.

 I know it is hard to see--but I am standing by Keith's motor home & there is flowing water everywhere.

 Behind our garden fence--between Grandpa's & our house.  The only vehicle access is across the creek.  

 This was a major (giant) ice jam & they worked on getting the ice broken up for about 1/2 hour.

 Yesterday they were able to get about 2 feet (deep) of ice flowing downstream.  This morning all the ice from the bottom of the creek had now floated to the top--causing more ice jams.

 The backhoe across the creek was in the backyard of where the missionaries live--and they didn't hear anything!

 Water coming around the "high" end of the sandbags (still Sunday morning around 5:30 am)

 The corner of our workshop shed.

the driveway--before they broke up the ice jam

Flood March 17, 2012--Part 2

More flood pictures

 Our back yard--up to the porch.

 Grandpa's back yard & green house.

 After a while, we couldn't walk between the yards without getting wet up to mid-shin.  I decided to go around through the alley to Grandpa's house.

 Shortly after they got the ice flowing.

 Brienna pointing to a huge chunk of ice by our house.  I hope you can see the many layers of ice (melting, freezing)

 Behind our sheds/workshop--before we sandbagged.

 Sand bagging at our friend's house (Fitzwater's).  This is her back yard.

 Standing on the road in front of Grandpa's house--they just broke a huge ice jam free & the water (& ice) came rushing down.

 The water at the bridge by Grandpa's house.

 A back hoe trying to clear some ice by the 5th Street bridge (behind the football field)

 Back hoes working off the 5th St. bridge--the bridge is now condemned.  Hopefully when they build the new one, they will build it much higher!

Our "dry" yard (river-bed).

It's so nice to see dry land  (ha, ha).  This was around 2 pm. 

I have a ton more pictures (& videos) but they will have to wait until later.  I am exhausted & need to get to bed.  I did take time out to take a nice, hot bubble bath--it warmed me up (finally).