Friday, February 10, 2017

Surviving the Deluge

All week the weather forecast on the NOAA website, for our area, was red: flood warnings, wind warnings, you-name-it warnings.  The rain was so heavy that I worked from home Tuesday, yesterday and today.  The roads were flooded, blocked by fallen trees, eroded, and some had sink holes.  We have had about 9.5 inches of rain since Monday when the storm started.  We were getting about an inch, or an inch and a half every day, until yesterday.  We measure the rainfall every 24 hours, at 7am, and then I report it into a National weather database that is accessed by NOAA and the National Weather Service, among others.  From 7am until 4pm (when we did the evening chores) we had just over an inch.  As I was climbing into bed last night, and Brett was brushing his teeth, the rain started to beat on the roof and the windows.  It continued all night long.  This morning, there was 3.5 inches in the measuring tube and it didn't let up until mid-morning.  The ranch was flooded; the drains and streams weren't able to keep up with all the water coming from the skies and flowing from the neighboring hillside properties.

This stream looks more like a ditch when it is dry, than a stream.  Standing in the bottom of it, I can rest my hands on the banks.


The pond in the donkey pasture overflowed its banks, towards the hen house, and ran in an ankle deep river down the driveway.  It took big chunks of the asphalt with it, and rocks.

You can see the bottom of the driveway emerging from the water just past the well house.  Fortunately, the well house did not flood.  The railroad tie you see "floating" in the water is actually the top of the bridge that goes over a stream.
 There was way too much water for the banks to contain.  There were rogue streams everywhere.
The water was kissing the bridge over to the girl's pasture.  There are two large pipes under that bridge -- they couldn't keep up.

Fortunately, the rain did stop.  There is no more rain in the forecast... until next Wednesday.  They are predicting another large storm.  I never thought I'd say this, but I'm ready for summer.

8 comments:

  1. wow! that's a lot of rain in a short time frame. I'm glad that there was no lasting damage. I hope that weds is not as bad.
    We're hunkering in for another bad storm coming in...so yes- bring on spring!

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  2. Wow! That looks just awful. Hang in there it's got to stop soon.

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  3. Ugh - flooding. I hope things moderate quickly, and that the aquifers / reservoirs getting recharged is some consolation...

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    1. The reservoirs here in Northern California are all full. Lake Tahoe has overflowed its banks and caused some flooding; Lake Oroville has had so much rain flowing over its spillway that the spillway has been damaged. Southern California reservoirs are still below 50%. I spoke with someone earlier this week and he was giddy because his local reservoir was at 43% -- more than double where it was last year. So, if we could direct the next storm to Southern California...

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  4. We must have gotten that very same storm. More water, flooding and landslides than we can handle.

    *this too shall pass* Good news for those reservoirs though.

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  5. Our barn looks like this too. I know we need the rain, but I'm sick of everything being under water.

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  6. An American in TokyoFebruary 14, 2017 at 9:58 PM

    I hope you don't have any permanent damage!! =O

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Thanks so much for commenting!