Wal-Mart store in Chehalis, WA

[stevedeshazer]

Chehalis Airport:


I-5 in Chehalis:

[spanone]

1. amazing pics, thanks

[flamingyouth]

2. The devastation there is overwhelming.

:(

[NMDemDist2]

3. wow! those poor people nt/

[TahitiNut]

4. All that Chinese toxic waste in the water is dangerous to children and other living things.

:dunce:

I've driven that route several times. Tragic.

[stevedeshazer]

5. These days I'm driving truck between Centralia and Portland

Well, actually, I'm not now. Unless the boss wants to spring for the fuel to make the 900 mile round trip from P-town to the Tri-Cities, over Snoqualmie Pass, south from Seattle to Puyallup, then all the way back.

Like most truckers up here, my ass is parked until whenever.

[Suich]

6. Git goin!

They just opened I5 Northbound, one lane!

:)

Edited to add: Trucks only!

[stevedeshazer]

8. Per my boss, we're waitin' it out until Monday

Just heard the news. The backlog going through one lane will be MASSIVE.

Thanks for the info!

[uppityperson]

12. Seriously? That's good.

It sounds like the road and roadbed are messes. I am glad that they are able to open 1 lane at least. Thanks for the good news. Sign me "up road from there, wondering if grocery stores are running low yet, and glad I am set for a couple weeks"

[Suich]

17. There should be another lane open by now, so there's

one South and one North. May have more open by midnight for cars. Did you guys get any of the wind at your place?

[uppityperson]

21. It was pretty quiet here, yes wind but no more than usual

Being in the rain/wind shadow, we get hit differently. Last yr we got our big destructive storm a few wks before the rest of W.WA got hit. That day was pretty nice here. How are you doing? Wind? Flooding?

[Suich]

22. I live about 2 blocks north of Lake Union

and there was rippling water running down the middle of my street! You don't see that very often! I had water in my basement but everything ran down the drain. My downhill neighbor had to go buy a pump. There is an underground stream that runs from Greenlake to Lake Union and we're right on top of it...makes things interesting! Ahhh...the joys of home ownership!

:hi:

[TahitiNut]

7. That's also a route I've taken ... not all at one time, though.

Grim. Very grim. It wouldn't be much better cutting up from the Gorge at Goldendale to Toppenish and Yakima, either. US-97 can get REALLY icy.

[stevedeshazer]

9. That's a big 10-4.

I'm staying home and raking the few leaves left over from the typhoon.

[Usrename]

10. Why did the salmon cross the road?

video: http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=876_1196841317

[file83]

13. No way! That is an amazing photo!!

[roguevalley]

16. they can cross stuff with little water. come up here to Alaska

in the summer and watch. :)

[sutz12]

18. You'd better delete that picture....it looks like that fish is evolving.

:evilgrin:

[SoCalDem]

32. His sex drive made him do it..

Like the song says.. "Ain't no mountain high enough"..etc etc

[MissB]

11. Apparently part of the congressional override last month

will help fix the problem. If the state can come up with matching funds.

[intheflow]

14. Kicking for the good people of WA.

My thoughts are with you all. :hug:

[Deja Q]

15. In Cialis? Wow, what the heck exploded to flood the whole area?

[TahitiNut]

19. The sky.

The west side of the Cascades gets most of the moisture from storms coming in off the Pacific. I-5 runs North-South along the lowest land to the west of the Cascades ... fertile lands from millenia of run-off and floods. Some excellent whitewater rafting is available, particularly in the springtime, on the west of Oregon and Washington.

In eastern Washington, they call any rain "Seattle mist" - the rain that 'mist' (missed) Seattle.

[Kucinich4America]

23. The sky, basically

Some parts of the state got up to 10 inches of rain in 24 hours, and that was as of Monday afternoon. It was still raining then, so it only got worse.

Lewis County (Centralia/Chehalis) and Grays Harbor County (on the coast) got the worst of it. The Chehalis River, not coincidentally, goes through both.

[sentelle]

30. Something to keep in mind here

Much of the area was carved by glaciers, and tends to be very clayey hardpan soils.
This means that anything more than an inch of rain per day will cause some flooding.

Seattle had 5 inches, Bremerton, 7....

These people, well they got more. and remember that the water has to go somewhere, so the Chehalis river takes it all downstream to flood already flooded areas.

There are many reasons to call this a tragedy.
The amount of rain in this storm was unexpected, so its not as though there was anyone evacuated.
The areas that are hardest hit are away from the big cities (Seattle and Tacoma were barely hit) so the amount of people affected is less. Of course it also means that its harder to get to them to help.

Relief efforts began almost right away, thanks to the local governments and the communities.

This is not Katrina, and one cannot compare it to Katrina. Thats not to say its not horrible, as it is....

And this storm system, the Pineapple Express, is headed to California.

Stay tuned......

[JBoy]

20. Holy crap, you got hammered

We got some pretty heavy rain up here in Vancouver BC, but nothing close to what you got. Keep your feet dry!

[Nostradammit]

24. Looks like there'll be some bargains at Wal-mart!

We only got the very outer edge of it here in Eugene, but you could tell it was a nasty one. Just had a menacing snap to it. Hope it drys out up there soon.

[Radical Activist]

25. The most beautiful picture of a Walmart I've seen since a tornado hit one.

I hope everyone in town is OK.

[countryjake]

26. Somehow it's warming to see that Wal-Mart underwater...

tho many who work there have most likely lost everything, their homes and possibly a job, too. That is the promise they offer...affordable goods, easy access, employment for the unskilled...but they never reveal what might occur when 30 acres of concrete is plopped in the middle of a flood plain.

This morning's news is saying that I-5 should be open to all traffic later today and commercial trucks began to be led thru yesterday evening. That parade is moving slow but sure.

The animal shelters are overflowing with lost and stranded pets, so temporary foster homes are needed. Donations of hay and feed, domestic pet food, litter, bleach, towels, and blankets are being called for in Lewis, Mason, and Pacific counties.

This has wiped out so many folk, such devastation at this time of year is hard to imagine...if anyone has what it takes (and cleanup is an exhausting, stinking, hazardous job) consider volunteering your time and energy now that the water is going down and roads are becoming accessible. Shovels, boots and gloves, masks and jugs of bleach are the tools required. So far, only Lewis Co. and Grays Harbor Co. are officially considered "states of emergency" locally and that means all the others will have a hard time of it, in trying to get any federal aid (I don't believe Bush has even given the word yet, as to calling in FEMA for anyone) so that means reliance on Red Cross, which is minimal, at best. People are gonna need help, big time.

Thanks for posting those pics!

[insleeforprez]

27. I can't tell you how many times

I've driven that stretch of highway between Portland and Seattle. That's just weird.

[countryjake]

28. Cows

Returning to the flood's aftermath

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/photogalleries/localnews2004057424/


Nile Millam walks past a pile of dead cows at a dairy on Ceres Hill Road near Curtis that was hard hit by the flood. Millam was helping to clean up the mess.
STEVE RINGMAN / THE SEATTLE TIMES




Possessions and lives left in pieces after flood
By Ralph Thomas - Seattle Times staff reporter
Friday, December 7, 2007

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2004057934_stormreturn07m.html

~snips~

CENTRALIA — For two days, Norm Leach's house sat stewing in the Chehalis River's muddy floodwaters. Now he's afraid there's little worth saving from his home of 38 years.

"Everything is ruined," Leach said as he stepped through the rubble of what used to be his living room...

"I called FEMA twice and they said they can't do anything," Leach said. "But, hell, think about Katrina — it took them three weeks to get down there."

The Federal Emergency Management Agency says it can't respond to requests for help unless President Bush declares an emergency. Gov. Christine Gregoire asked for that declaration Thursday. There still is no clear estimate of the number of people flooded out of their homes in Lewis County.




Heroic neighbors fought flood's fury, but many animals couldn't be saved
By Hal Bernton - Seattle Times staff reporter
Thursday, December 6, 2007

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2004055780_floodcurtis06m.html

~snip~

CURTIS, Lewis County — When the waters came raging toward the dairy barns, Roy Osborn Jr.'s cows did a strange thing.

Often wary of humans, they crowded close to Osborn as though they knew he offered them their last hope of salvation.

[uppityperson]

29. Very sad. I-5 getting reopened....

Very sad. I read and posted this article on WA forum yesterday, didn't see picture.

I-5 got opened to trucks last night, may open to some car today.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2004057928_stormhighway07m.html

Interstate 5 near Chehalis reopened to truck traffic Thursday evening after a mad rush by road crews to drain floodwaters from the highway, clear debris and repair damage. To the cheers of transportation workers, a caravan of trucks escorted by a State Patrol car drove north through the area that was underwater only hours earlier. Crews hope to have all lanes open and allow regular traffic sometime today.

Drivers should be prepared for sloppy pavement, including mud on the road. "It could still be rough roadway, so drivers should expect slower speeds," said Stan Suchan, a spokesman for the state Department of Transportation.

(clip)
About 10,000 trucks and 44,000 passenger vehicles use I-5 through the region every day. Many truckers waited out the closure while others took a long detour through Yakima. By the time the freeway reopened Thursday evening, there were more than 1,000 trucks ready to head northbound, and hundreds more poised to make the southbound run....

[countryjake]

33. Nobody can understand how hard it is to evacuate big animals like that...

unless they've done it. On Sunday we helped an older couple move their cows, their pastures were flooded by Monday afternoon, and we weren't even hit up here half as bad most places. Their fields go under whenever it reaches level 2, so it's standard procedure, but it is absolutely exhausting, especially when the wind is knocking you off your feet and scaring the shit out of the animals. Milk cows still have to be tended, wherever they end up, and trucking them out, floodwaters freaking them out, causes all sorts of udder woes.

When Grays Harbor blew away on Sunday night and then Olympia flooded on Monday morning, I knew this was going to be bad, but the hit that wa farmers have taken from this storm is overwhelming. I feel so bad for all in those swamped counties down there, all over the friggin' state. Still haven't heard from family out in Pacific Co....power has been down all week there and timber is strewn clogging every road.

[stevedeshazer]

34. countryjake, I know exactly what you mean

I live in the city now, but I grew up on a dairy farm in northwest Oregon. I'm old enough to remember the Columbus Day storm of 1962 (I was seven years old) and back then my dad was an inseminator. He took me around to all the local farms we could get to, with many roads blocked by downed trees, much flooding, barns blown down, many dead cattle.

Rural folks get hit hard by this kind of stuff more than most urban and suburban people can understand.

We were without electricity and water for three weeks.

It ain't Katrina, but it's bad. Really bad.

Hope you guys see better days soon.

[countryjake]

36. Steve, I'm not in one of the eight devastated counties...

we're clear up North, but this storm had been predicted to strike here and they closed down the North Cascades Highway that Friday before, with more than 100 mph winds expected in our valley and abnormally high rainfall predicted to come with the remnants of two Pacific Typhoons on top of the Pineapple Express. Our dams had spilled water to make room for the onslaught by Sat. morning and all Skagit was hunkering down for a Katrina-style event, but breathing sighs of relief by Monday, when the rainfall turned out to be half what other counties received and top winds were only 64 mph.

Our river system is equipped to handle 200,000 cubic feet of water per second rushing downstream...anything over that and our county is done for, literally. Those damned dams, whose cautionary spills regularly inundate 100-year old farms, whenever the threat seems disastrous for cities downstream, are, in themselves, enough of a ticking time bomb to raise the hair on anyone's nape. The resistance and failure of our county's planners to take any climate change seriously, with old-timers warning of changes in the soil quality and stability of our dikes being shouted down by those who see "development" as the solution to struggling farms, makes our county only one Pineapple Express away from tragic calamity.

If ya want to read a bit about our precarious situation, here's an article done earlier this year on our river:

Awash In Trouble
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/pacificnw02182007/2003572246_pacificpflood18.html


I also wanted to correct a report I relayed earlier this week which you had wondered about...one farmer (I was in disbelief when I heard this, also) did not lose 1000 head of cattle...that number is now being reported as the total loss to all dairy farmers down in Lewis County and the figure excludes beef cows, horses, and other livestock. From what I've heard in talk up here this week, Lewis Co. has resisted attempts to bring in Agri-business operations, just as our county does, but with each flood or drought, more farms go under and the little guy is replaced by corporations.

I sometimes have a hard time relating here to those who think "rural" translates to rabid redneck or right-wing nut, but it's just due to a lack of awareness in people who think our food comes from a grocery store, that's all.

[uppityperson]

35. Hoping you hear from family soon and they've had a boring time there.

Just cutting wood, clearing roads, nothing exciting would be really nice.

[AuntPatsy]

31. So sad, as more and more such natural disasters begin to occur

more and more people become aware of how little the government cares about it's citizens, sadly I hope it is not to late for them to have finally opened their eyes.