Cute N Cool

Sunday, October 18, 2009

The rainy Pacific Northwest, and flooding...

I know many of you all love it when summer ends, and Fall rolls in.

Well, around here the foliage changes, like most everywhere else, which is lovely for a short while. It is the rain that I don't like. It seems like it just rains all the time, and the sky is gray, a lot!

Yesterday we had a crazy storm come through, and for a short period of time, we has standing water in my walkway, like an inch or so...crazy!

Man, I think it was raining so hard and the wind was blowing hard as well, that the rain was raining sideways!


Now, because it rained so hard, the driveway to the barn and arena has huge rain ruts, and my horses paddocks are muddy and ugly! UGH..this sucks!

The good news is that where we live, flooding will probably not be an issue like elsewhere in this region.

Down in the south part of King County ( Seattle is in King County), they are giving business's and residents a heads up that they will be flooded this year...isn't that a lovely message to receive.

They are actually telling people to get Flood Insurance, because they can guarantee that the Howard Hanson Dam is not going to do it's job, and they will have to release water from it this winter to prevent further damage that was done previously.

My husbands business is in Kent, which has areas of the city that are in this flood zone. He thinks they will be OK, as the shop is higher due to the loading dock. The old building they had been in, is in the flood zone.

The government agencies have had public meetings regarding the flood area, for those residents and business folks to come and find out more. I cannot imagine how awful this is, to those who KNOW they will be effected.

The information I read about the dam says they do not have the funding to complete the repair work... to quote the information posted at the City of Auburn website...

"Issues surround the ability of local jurisdictions to remove debris from the river, dredging and shoring up levees. In order to do any of these activities, there is an extensive review and permitting process that must take place that often take months or years to complete. Due to the current pool restriction at the Howard Hanson Dam, local entities would like to see exemptions made to the current permitting process in order to work on the rivers and levees to protect citizens from potential flooding.

The Army Corps of Engineers is currently seeking funding for the necessary repairs at the Howard Hanson Dam. At this point, there appears to be little funding for these repairs."

Hello out there..where is all this 'help' that my grand kids are going to be paying for? It seems to me fixing a dam should qualify for something?

So here comes the rain, and here comes the flooding for so many folks and business's, who cannot count on help... and can only hope and pray, and buy Flood Insurance at a huge premium.

Then again, these are opportunities for entrepreneurs to create new companies...

17 comments:

  1. goodness, that does not sound good. hun i hope everything gets fixed, cleaned up, better. send the rain to me and i'll send the sunshine :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Dang. In war and in flood areas, high ground is of upmost importance. Good Luck, your storm is on its way here and they are predicting snow. I'll look for some of your things in the clouds.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sheesh, what a potential mess....stick to the high ground, and hang in there through it all.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I grew up in the PNW and at all the ballgames our rivals would chant...SWAMP...SWAMP TOWN!!!
    My home town still floods every year!!! A terrible thing for all!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Wasn't it a crazy couple of days? Thankfully the new drain that City Boy put in last month worked, or the horses would be up to their hocks in mudnure right now!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Oh wow... that's just awful.
    glad to hear that you will be relatively safe from the worst of it. Still, here's hoping that you stay safe and dry!!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Man, Why didn't we think of that idea...sandbags to go?

    ReplyDelete
  8. When I went to go feed the horses last night, I had to dump the grain buckets, filled with 3/4's water! I have never seen that much rain in their buckets before. The pasture's are just a muddy mess and the horses themselves are mudpie's. I am miserable. I hate the rain and mud!!
    My parents live in a town where it floods all the time. The last few years have been really bad. Hopefully this year won't be so bad.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I have to quit writing when it comes to politics, because I offend people. But maybe some of that HOPE could be spent on actual things of need and not for political allies, that secures a re-election. I hope things work out up there somehow.

    ReplyDelete
  10. From one country girl to another your place looks like heaven. I really enjoy your blog. Please check out my blog and let me know what you think.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Sorry to hear about all the rain, but glad that you won't be dealing with the worst of it. Try and stay dry...

    ReplyDelete
  12. Sounds like your weekend was as wet as mine! I hate this time of the year because of the wet mud in the horsey areas. It even makes using the arena and riding impossible. Might as well say goodbye until May rolls around.... :(

    ReplyDelete
  13. We are fortunate to live on a high spot, with sandy soil. I see news coverage of places that have endured floods, and it looks like it would just be devastating. Too bad all that water cannot be diverted to where they need it in California for the fires there....

    ReplyDelete
  14. Oh Mother Nature has not been kind to many areas this year! Flooding has to be the worse thing to deal with. Hang in there.

    ReplyDelete
  15. It is appalling the amount of money the government spends on various subsidies and pork fat that when a known disaster will happen, they can't come up with the funds? Sorry about all the rain...I can totally sympathize with muddy paddocks!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Oh, that dam problem sounds ominous.. and the money for repair? Come on folks.. this is important stuff.

    We had our first Nor'easter blow through this weekend. If this is any indication of the kind of winter we will be having, batten down the hatches now.. we are in for a hell of a ride...

    ReplyDelete
  17. my goodness... that's obviously a lotta rain up there.. try and stay fry!

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for your comments...I mean really...Thank you for taking the time to do that.. how nice of you!