By now you probably know that much of Washington has been swallowed up in the great waters of the Puget Sound apocalypse.
Our town is effectively cut off from civilization as the rivers in the area have swollen to gigantical proportions. Here are a few photos:
This was taken a couple of months ago. Notice the mint-green buildings in the top left corner accross the river.
Here’s a broad picture of the flooding today. The mint-green buildings are in the back behind the submerged picnic structures and floating trash cans. You can click to enlarge.
Dan and his mom on a bench by the river:
The same bench yesterday morning:
Red arrow points to the same bench today:
Magoo and Auntie (isn’t she gorgeous?) at the park several yards from the river. Notice the trash cans in the background.
Same garbage cans, now floating, taken from the opposite direction. Don’t worry. Magoo and Auntie are safe on dry land.
Some family friends pose atop a wall at a major intersection. In the background you can see the bridge Dan would normally drive on to come home.
The Red Cross has been asking for clothes and blankets for the many people pulled from the river who are staying at local shelters. We currently have no access to a hospital, but the local grocery store is keeping up with demand for corndogs and tomato bisque so we’re in good shape.
Luckily we just practiced for a disaster and it scared me badly enough to stock up on anything we were lacking. It’s actually quite nice to have Dan home with us, our CD player still playing Backstreet Boys and the heater keeping us cozy on our tiny island. We’ve only run into a few problems.
Ballet class — the teacher left for a few minutes to pick up her daughter from school and while she was gone, the last road to our town became submerged in water. Laylee and the three other little girls who showed up for class were so sad that we slipped into the unlocked dance studio, turned on the music and let them go crazy, freestyle.
Voting — My polling place was across the river and although the bridge was still accessible when I headed out, I was afraid it wouldn’t be when I wanted to come back so I ended up filling out a provisional ballet at the one location near our house. By the time I finished voting, the last road had been closed.
Mice — Dan went into the attic to check for roof leaks and found something much more frightening than a $20,000 repair bill — MOUSE DROPPINGS!!!! ACK! BLECK!
Bad planning — Our crawl space is filling with water. Upon investigation, it appears that our gutters drain directly into a pipe that flows into the crawl space. There is no drain in the crawl space, just a giant swimming pool for the mice. ACK! BLECK!
For now the power is on so we can watch DVDs till our heads explode, blog, and nuke the corndogs (We do not eat corndogs on a regular basis. Corndogs are food reserved for circus trips, nuclear holocausts and floods).
DYM is hosted locally by a friend with very limited backup power so if our power goes out, the site will go bu-bye for a while. It will just add to the drama. Where is Kathryn? Can she cook her corndogs? Has she been swallowed by the great leviathan? You won’t know till the power comes back on and the power won’t come back on until the roads are clear and the roads won’t be clear until the waters subside and the waters won’t subside until the dove can bring us back an olive branch. And here I float in a house full of animal droppings. It seems almost biblical. Peace out.
I was worried about you actually! guess the Guru knew what was up. keep your floating head above water 🙂 love ya, Tess
Whoa. Stay dry. Keep the floaties nearby.
I thought about you today, when I was listening to news reports about voting and flooding.
Enjoy those corndogs. And keep in touch.
ok, you must keep us posted. literally. heh heh.
and also? your mother in law looks to be the same age as her son. how did that happen?
Bah! I’ll see your floods and raise you a handful of hurricanes I’ve been through…
Seriously, though, ouch. I had an area like that in my mission where, whenever it rained, 20% of the area went underwater. No fun. Hard to get around. Lots of mud. At least one person using an old fridge as a canoe (which was, incidentally, awesome). I hope you fare well!
One thought….. Life Raft. Maybe a small engine on the back so you don’t have to “row row row your boat gently down the stream”
stay safe & dry up there! If all else fails, you still have the tent…maybe it could float?
I was thinking about you 🙁
Watching the videos of all the flood zones on TV, I remembered you guys had just had your emergency preparedness awareness day of practice for administering hypothermia thru soaked children and soggy tent drill.
I’m glad you are all good and even had a chance for some photo ops.
WOW! It was 92 degrees here. Seriously. This is my favorite: http://www.komotv.com/news/archive/4076461.html — salmon swimming across the road. Doesn’t get much better than that!!
You’ll have a lot of time for swimmin’ on a bench down by the river when you’re… swimmin’ on a bench down by the river!!!
Your place looks like my cousin’s in Tillamook. Swim down here if you feel like drying out (Ha).
I hope the dove can bring an olive branch to you soon. What a blessing it was to have the mock emergency to help you be more prepared!
I had no idea that a fridge could be used as a canoe. Interesting. I guess frying pans could be your paddles?
Andrew’s last semester of law school while we were living in Grand Forks, ND the Red River flooded and the whole town went under, then the downtown caught fire and burned 13 buildings (which in Grand Forks IS the downtown). We sandbagged for days until we had to evacuate and as Andrew’s office was burned up and the semester/final exams were cancelled we left with the city ablaze in our rear view mirror. They gave all the law students a by on their finals and passed everyone. Andrew was thrilled but it’s too bad the whole city had to pay for him getting out of finals.
Wow- those are freaky pictures, DYM! Please be safe!
It looks like an adventure! A little bit stressfull, but don’t you get kind of an adrenaline rush when you look outside and realize you’re roughing it? At least the house is stable, eh? For now! Maybe you can tame some of the mice and have them do circus tricks for you. Ben will be jealous of the corndogs.
Wow! It is rather biblical. Good thing you guys had a practice for just this sort of thing! Keep dry!
Hope you guys manage to stay dry –well dry-ish from the sounds of it. And Wow, How inspired is your Family Preparedness Leader for planning that disaster drill?
Ack! Stay dry, my friend. Thinking of you.
(Thank goodness for the tomato bisque.)
I saw some of the flooding on TV last night and thought of you. I hope your family stays dry and warm, even amid the floodwaters. We are praying for you.
(The good news about the water in the crawlspace? you’ll drown all the mice! See, silver lining. Right. There.)
Take care of Y’selves! I AM glad to know that y’all are prepared for all of this. Except for the mice. Who can prepare for THOSE vile and wretched beasties! EWWW!
It’s such a blessing that you had the mock disaster drill to help you through this flood. Sorry you’re cut off from the world, but the blessing is that you are stuck with some really great people that you love. You may be SICK of them by the time you get to cross over the flood, but at least you love them.
Been there. Literally. We used to live in your neck of the woods, but up on a hillside. They called it the Hundred Year Flood, ‘cept since it happened more than once in relatively short time period, I figger Mother Nature was making up for lost time. The sad part was the cows that were lost, before Cow Pads ™ were built. We now live at 4,000 feet in another state. If we get water in our crawl space, Noah has come a’knockin’!
We’re feeling the effects in spots north of the border, too. I’m building this great big boat in my backyard and collecting animals as we speak…
oops! Left the comment I intended for THIS post on your fashion post.
What an adventure. I’m saying a prayer for your community.
Been thinking about you. Glad to hear you are alive!
Maybe I missed it in earlier posts, but what town do you live in? I grew up and lived in the Seattle area (Snohomish Co.) for most (22 yrs) of my life. I remember in high school once that the flooding was getting so bad that school was let out early, but it was such a mess because you had to try and get everyone (elementary, middle, jr., and sr. high) ou tat about the same time. And years before that, my parents have video footage of the snohomish valley all under water no hwy 9.
I am so glad that you are okay. I was thinking about you all day yesterday, and you still managed to Vote. Good for you! I did send you an email, it is different from the one I listed with the comment. You should be able to recognize it because it comes from tigerwolf, or Michael and Tanya. Have a good day, well as good as you can with trying to take care of the mice. Ick!
The one and only downside of life in the Northwest….I still dream about rising waters and sandbags from previous floods growing up in Portland. Lots of prayers and good thoughts your way, DYM!!!
Holy CRUD, Kate. I just figured there was a little water on the roads. I hope you guys are happily taking advantage of all that togetherness. :0 You’d better be able to leave in time for Thanksgiving!