can we say MAJOR flood much?
I was so excited on the 2nd when it was snowing. I woke up to 2.5" of snow on Sunday afternoon. It was coming down hard and fast and thick, with no signs of stopping. I was so sure I was going to have a white birthday. Then, around 3.5" it turned to rain. Rain that was coming down as hard and fast and thick as the snow had been. The snow had all been melted away by 10pm Sunday night.
Of course, we have had foundation problems in the past and so our basment was bringing water in from below. I was putting a new towel on that leak every so often until the wee hours of the morning. I knew all that rain would mean that my brothers didn't have school, but how bad it would get... that I was not expecting.
I woke up to a pouring wet birthday. I went with pants instead of a skirt like I'd been planning, and in the grand scheme of things, that was a good way to go. As expected, my brother didn't have school. I left early because I figured traffic would be slow. I had to drive with my wipers going full blast. The first sign of trouble I had was shortly up the road, where a car was in the ditch at the end of a step gravel driveway. But he water going across the road at that was nothing. The right turn at Sand Hill was completely underwater.
The bridge at the Union River was was when I started to be panicky. I called my mom just before I got on the bridge, because I thought traffic was backed up over it for something like an accident up ahead, and I wanted to let her know I'd gotten past the worst of it. I called to say that the brdige was clear, although, the parking lot next to it was completely underwater like it was just part of the bridge. But I was glad when I thought I was in teh clear. Then I saw why we were backed up. We we taking turns alternating lanes for which side of the road got to drive past the shallower side of the rushing water on teh other side of the bridge. I saw that and freaked out. I got through it okay, and my mom said that I could go to school, I could just come home a different way. But I was still crying when I hung up.
Most of the rest of the drive to school wasn't too horrible. There was some water, but it was all still and low. I just slowed down whenever I saw the person in front of me spray up some serious water. And I was going 20 under the limit anyway. A few times trucks come from the other direction seriously splashed me. But I got to school safe and sound.
I had a birthday facial planned. That was the main reason my mom encouraged me to go to school. But school discouraged me. Most students didn't show up, and 100% of our appointments cancelled. And I was hearing not great news. I was stressing as I heard Seabeck Highway was flooded over everywhere. While I normally take Highway 3, Seabeck is my alternate route. They lost a bridge. As more and more reports of floodign and washouts came in, I got more and more stressed. Luckily, all the estheticians were there. So, that was good. But I was so stressed, I couldn't relax the whole facial. I was just jittery as hell. I was worried I wouldn't get home.
After my facial, they started sending people home early, mainly the high school students. Kids living in Port Orchard boarded the bus, so the ferry could take them back across the water, since the town you have to go through normally wa sflooded and closed. This also happens to be the same town I have to go through to get home. So my fears of not getting home weren't unfounded.
I was offered up many a place to stay from all the esteticians. I ended up goign to Crystal's, because she lived the closest and I'd been there once before for a few minutes, so I kinda knew where it was. I called my mom and said I wasn't getting home, and Jessica took me and Crystal to Crystal's place. Luckily, there wasn't any problems between there. I watched the Buffy movie while Crystal cleaned up, then me and her just watched Bones all night. Her boyfriend came home and then he went and got us dinner (pizza) and we kept watching Bones. Then it was paused and I was surprised with chocolate frosted brownies he'd secretly bought whiel he was out. I'd been whining all day about how my birthday was ruined, and I wanted my brownies and presents and so on, so she told him to get me some. They sang to me and I blew out all twenty candles in one breath. It was just really sweet of them to do that. Right whiel they were singing, my mom called me to say my stepdad had finally managed to get home via bus/her picking him up in the crazy scary dark. They wished me happy birthday, too.
More tv, then I crawled into the bed in the guest bedroom around midnight, still in my day clothes. Crystal woke me up around seven in the morning, and we called Miss Anna but didn't get any answers, and she couldn't get a hold of Jessica then, either, so we went back to bed. But then Jessica came and got us about a quarter after nine. I was at school maybe 15 mins top. Just long enough to find out that Gorst was finally cleared. Then I went home. I wanted clean clothes, and a shower.
Highway 3 was pretty good the whole way home. The onle things I saw was a business with their outside windows shattered, and the Bremerton National Airport was still pretty much covered in water. Then nothing til I got back on Northshore. All the water had gone down. But there was a truck that had been washed way off road when they apparently tried to cross the river, and the windows were shattered also.
I was so glad to be home though. I told my parents about all the crap, and then I opened my presents. As expected, I got 4 strands of Christmas lights (2 clear sets, two multicolored sets), the Taylor Swift Deluxe Edition CD, a $50.00 Victoria's Secret gift card, and unexpectedly, a really nice sweater. Then I showered and got dressed and my and mom mom went for a drive to see some of the damage that had been done.
A few roads we went down, there were roadblocks or they were just letting one car through at a time. Obviously, I didn't take pictures there, but I did where I could. There are two sets of pictures; one set from the drive around, which aren't the best quality, because my mom was lame and wouldn't slow down enough, and sometimes, it was through a rainspackled window; and one set from when we walked around the park down the road.
I know it's kinda hard to tell, but this is a sinkhole. It's a little ways past my little brother's school. Luckily, it's one of the smaller ones. At least they're already getting it fixed.
This is a boat in a ditch on the side of the road. And the lake it came from is on the other side of those huge bushes, not the other side of the road. My mom says that last night it looked like it was ready to flat across the road. There was serious running water in this area then.
I didn't take this picture soon enough to show the pond that this is flooding from. But this water from the ponder is running more than a mile down the road.
This is one of the many places where water is still going across the road. You ca see the spray from out car. And this is after it's stopped raining for more than 12 hours. Even from the distance, you can tell that the water is up to the bridge.
This house is about 4-5 miles away from mine. It's completely washed out. The next one is the road just outside their house.
The bottom of Romance Hill Road. It completely washed out, luckily missing the two musinesses across the street. They already filled it in with loads full of gravel so that people living up there could get into town.
I can't even remember what this is of, but is just looks like I took a picture of several fallen branches and more runninng water.
This is next door to the fire station two miles up the road. Nothing but mud.
The roots of a fallen tree down at the creek I swim in during the summer. Then you can just see other trees in the creek also. And normally, the water is crystal clear.
Where the roots were torn up at. I'm standing at the end of the path (or well, where it ends now) that I normally take to get down to the creek. You can see where it continues on the other side of the hole.
This is normally where I cross the creek... now it's seriously twice as wide, and probably up to my neck, instead of the usual stepping stones.
Tree bits in the grass, and a fallen tree. It's hard to see, but farther back by that last bit of arge tree, there's a bunch of specks... those are large, fist size rocks, which shows just how far in the canal water came from the normal beach, and where you see the water now is still covering the normal beach.
The playground. The sidewalk has fallen apart, and the receeding water scooped out so much of the gravel, that you can see the plastic that they had under it.
More of the playground. Most of the gravel has been washed out from under one of the swingsets, half the framing of the general play area is gone, walkways have disappeared, and there's a random sleeping bag? The anchorman we saw there (and later on channel five news!) stood here while he reported.
The following are various shots of the campground area, all flooded. They don't get individual explanation unless it's good stuff.
(this has the faintest view of where the water is now, on the horizon line)
This is where you can see the other creek in the park (which also looks morelike a river) is not only following it's usual course to the right of the rock path, but also has made it's own path to the left.
One last picture as we walked home, where you can just see more trees not only fallen, but also still standing in the middle of Mission Creek.
I also saw a tool shed turned on it's side, and several streetsigns and mailboxes torn up and knocked over (sometimes, down the street from where they were before).
We watched the news mostly when we got home. When it comes to it, we're lucky in this general area. Some parts of Western Washington are under 9-10 feet of water. Twenty miles of I-5 are closed because there's that much water over the road. People have lost homes, lives, and businesses. There have been serious land slides and potholes. Not 10 miles from my uncle's house in Port Orchard, there's a pothole 20 feet deep. Out farther up the road, people have children home alone, because bridges fell right out and they're stuck on the wrong side.
All in all, it wasn't my best birthday (oh, my god, it sucked) but it was memorable. Happy 20th to me. The irony is, we went to the library at one point, and there was a sign on the door. Distaster Preperation presentation has been cancelled.
Of course, we have had foundation problems in the past and so our basment was bringing water in from below. I was putting a new towel on that leak every so often until the wee hours of the morning. I knew all that rain would mean that my brothers didn't have school, but how bad it would get... that I was not expecting.
I woke up to a pouring wet birthday. I went with pants instead of a skirt like I'd been planning, and in the grand scheme of things, that was a good way to go. As expected, my brother didn't have school. I left early because I figured traffic would be slow. I had to drive with my wipers going full blast. The first sign of trouble I had was shortly up the road, where a car was in the ditch at the end of a step gravel driveway. But he water going across the road at that was nothing. The right turn at Sand Hill was completely underwater.
The bridge at the Union River was was when I started to be panicky. I called my mom just before I got on the bridge, because I thought traffic was backed up over it for something like an accident up ahead, and I wanted to let her know I'd gotten past the worst of it. I called to say that the brdige was clear, although, the parking lot next to it was completely underwater like it was just part of the bridge. But I was glad when I thought I was in teh clear. Then I saw why we were backed up. We we taking turns alternating lanes for which side of the road got to drive past the shallower side of the rushing water on teh other side of the bridge. I saw that and freaked out. I got through it okay, and my mom said that I could go to school, I could just come home a different way. But I was still crying when I hung up.
Most of the rest of the drive to school wasn't too horrible. There was some water, but it was all still and low. I just slowed down whenever I saw the person in front of me spray up some serious water. And I was going 20 under the limit anyway. A few times trucks come from the other direction seriously splashed me. But I got to school safe and sound.
I had a birthday facial planned. That was the main reason my mom encouraged me to go to school. But school discouraged me. Most students didn't show up, and 100% of our appointments cancelled. And I was hearing not great news. I was stressing as I heard Seabeck Highway was flooded over everywhere. While I normally take Highway 3, Seabeck is my alternate route. They lost a bridge. As more and more reports of floodign and washouts came in, I got more and more stressed. Luckily, all the estheticians were there. So, that was good. But I was so stressed, I couldn't relax the whole facial. I was just jittery as hell. I was worried I wouldn't get home.
After my facial, they started sending people home early, mainly the high school students. Kids living in Port Orchard boarded the bus, so the ferry could take them back across the water, since the town you have to go through normally wa sflooded and closed. This also happens to be the same town I have to go through to get home. So my fears of not getting home weren't unfounded.
I was offered up many a place to stay from all the esteticians. I ended up goign to Crystal's, because she lived the closest and I'd been there once before for a few minutes, so I kinda knew where it was. I called my mom and said I wasn't getting home, and Jessica took me and Crystal to Crystal's place. Luckily, there wasn't any problems between there. I watched the Buffy movie while Crystal cleaned up, then me and her just watched Bones all night. Her boyfriend came home and then he went and got us dinner (pizza) and we kept watching Bones. Then it was paused and I was surprised with chocolate frosted brownies he'd secretly bought whiel he was out. I'd been whining all day about how my birthday was ruined, and I wanted my brownies and presents and so on, so she told him to get me some. They sang to me and I blew out all twenty candles in one breath. It was just really sweet of them to do that. Right whiel they were singing, my mom called me to say my stepdad had finally managed to get home via bus/her picking him up in the crazy scary dark. They wished me happy birthday, too.
More tv, then I crawled into the bed in the guest bedroom around midnight, still in my day clothes. Crystal woke me up around seven in the morning, and we called Miss Anna but didn't get any answers, and she couldn't get a hold of Jessica then, either, so we went back to bed. But then Jessica came and got us about a quarter after nine. I was at school maybe 15 mins top. Just long enough to find out that Gorst was finally cleared. Then I went home. I wanted clean clothes, and a shower.
Highway 3 was pretty good the whole way home. The onle things I saw was a business with their outside windows shattered, and the Bremerton National Airport was still pretty much covered in water. Then nothing til I got back on Northshore. All the water had gone down. But there was a truck that had been washed way off road when they apparently tried to cross the river, and the windows were shattered also.
I was so glad to be home though. I told my parents about all the crap, and then I opened my presents. As expected, I got 4 strands of Christmas lights (2 clear sets, two multicolored sets), the Taylor Swift Deluxe Edition CD, a $50.00 Victoria's Secret gift card, and unexpectedly, a really nice sweater. Then I showered and got dressed and my and mom mom went for a drive to see some of the damage that had been done.
A few roads we went down, there were roadblocks or they were just letting one car through at a time. Obviously, I didn't take pictures there, but I did where I could. There are two sets of pictures; one set from the drive around, which aren't the best quality, because my mom was lame and wouldn't slow down enough, and sometimes, it was through a rainspackled window; and one set from when we walked around the park down the road.
I know it's kinda hard to tell, but this is a sinkhole. It's a little ways past my little brother's school. Luckily, it's one of the smaller ones. At least they're already getting it fixed.
This is a boat in a ditch on the side of the road. And the lake it came from is on the other side of those huge bushes, not the other side of the road. My mom says that last night it looked like it was ready to flat across the road. There was serious running water in this area then.
I didn't take this picture soon enough to show the pond that this is flooding from. But this water from the ponder is running more than a mile down the road.
This is one of the many places where water is still going across the road. You ca see the spray from out car. And this is after it's stopped raining for more than 12 hours. Even from the distance, you can tell that the water is up to the bridge.
This house is about 4-5 miles away from mine. It's completely washed out. The next one is the road just outside their house.
The bottom of Romance Hill Road. It completely washed out, luckily missing the two musinesses across the street. They already filled it in with loads full of gravel so that people living up there could get into town.
I can't even remember what this is of, but is just looks like I took a picture of several fallen branches and more runninng water.
This is next door to the fire station two miles up the road. Nothing but mud.
The roots of a fallen tree down at the creek I swim in during the summer. Then you can just see other trees in the creek also. And normally, the water is crystal clear.
Where the roots were torn up at. I'm standing at the end of the path (or well, where it ends now) that I normally take to get down to the creek. You can see where it continues on the other side of the hole.
This is normally where I cross the creek... now it's seriously twice as wide, and probably up to my neck, instead of the usual stepping stones.
Tree bits in the grass, and a fallen tree. It's hard to see, but farther back by that last bit of arge tree, there's a bunch of specks... those are large, fist size rocks, which shows just how far in the canal water came from the normal beach, and where you see the water now is still covering the normal beach.
The playground. The sidewalk has fallen apart, and the receeding water scooped out so much of the gravel, that you can see the plastic that they had under it.
More of the playground. Most of the gravel has been washed out from under one of the swingsets, half the framing of the general play area is gone, walkways have disappeared, and there's a random sleeping bag? The anchorman we saw there (and later on channel five news!) stood here while he reported.
The following are various shots of the campground area, all flooded. They don't get individual explanation unless it's good stuff.
(this has the faintest view of where the water is now, on the horizon line)
This is where you can see the other creek in the park (which also looks morelike a river) is not only following it's usual course to the right of the rock path, but also has made it's own path to the left.
One last picture as we walked home, where you can just see more trees not only fallen, but also still standing in the middle of Mission Creek.
I also saw a tool shed turned on it's side, and several streetsigns and mailboxes torn up and knocked over (sometimes, down the street from where they were before).
We watched the news mostly when we got home. When it comes to it, we're lucky in this general area. Some parts of Western Washington are under 9-10 feet of water. Twenty miles of I-5 are closed because there's that much water over the road. People have lost homes, lives, and businesses. There have been serious land slides and potholes. Not 10 miles from my uncle's house in Port Orchard, there's a pothole 20 feet deep. Out farther up the road, people have children home alone, because bridges fell right out and they're stuck on the wrong side.
All in all, it wasn't my best birthday (oh, my god, it sucked) but it was memorable. Happy 20th to me. The irony is, we went to the library at one point, and there was a sign on the door. Distaster Preperation presentation has been cancelled.