A torrent of raging water.
Oh. My. Goodness. Yesterday the town of Orting and the surrounding area was told to evacuate due to imminent threat from flood waters and/or the possibility of the three bridges leading to town being compromised due to the rising water.
A new river channel is cut through pasture land.
We’ve had rising waters before. When you live right on the Puyallup and Carbon Rivers, you get used to high water and threats of danger. This time the rain was relentless, the weather in the mountains warm (melting the snowpak), and the threat real.
Our house sits above the old Puyallup riverbed and not far from the current river. While we are always able to see the levee holding back the waters, we have never before been able to see the waters reaching the top of the levee from our house. This time, logs and debris floating toward the bridge at breakneck speed were eerily visible, yet the levee held. Runoff has collected in our backyard (that old riverbed) and spilled over to the field next door. Luckily, Ben got home in time to rescue the chickens, although they are irritated to be trapped in the greenhouse with nothing to scratch, and the task had to be accomplished in chest waders. Our neighbors all are fine, as well but everyone was out in force documenting these events.
The water has receded a bit from this minor levee breach.
There are several things that contribute to the unsettled elements of threatening water: the smell, the sound, and, obviously, the sight. The smell is not foul, in and of itself; it is the smell of wet earth. Strong and pungent, it is eerily out of place along the river yet the mud darkened waters carry it forward. From our house we can hear the rushing water, reminiscent of the ocean’s crashing waves. Finally, the sight of tremendous trees, uprooted upstream and traveling to the bay underscore the fury and anger that the water demonstrates. Standing on the footbridge near our house last night, we were startled by the sound of especially large root balls slamming into the bottom of the bridge. The water was close to the bottom of the decking but the flood crested before touching.
Power, devastation, nature, earth and luck all combined last night. We are lucky; not everyone fared so well.
- Our Backyard
