Move over Louisiana...heres Washington state

TractorLegend · Dec 5, 2007

Floodwaters begin to recede to reveal loss, heartbreak | KOMO 1000 News Radio - News, Weather and Sports - Seattle, WA Seattle, Washington | News

ultrarunner · Dec 6, 2007

Yeah, it's been pretty bad for some folks up here... besides all of the problems in just getting around and having to leave your home... I know several that have lost or are about to loose their homes.

The ground can only take to much water at a time... what made this storm different is it was a tropical storm... they call them Pineapple Express because the rain can be 20 degrees warmer than normal for this time of year.

Warmer rain in Winter leads to all kinds of problems such as quickly melting snow.

This storm really makes you think about building on high ground and away from the side of hills.

My prayers go out to all those affected

TractorLegend · Dec 6, 2007

It appears many have no flood insurance as well

tallyho8 · Dec 6, 2007

After seeing so many tens of thousands of flooded homes in our area a couple of years ago, I know the trauma that these people are suffering at this time.

Floods can occur almost anywhere, not just in places that are below sea level and flood insurance is usually one of the cheapest kinds of insurance to have.

Even those fully insured will lose much that can not be replaced with money so we will keep them in our prayers.

YanmarFever · Dec 6, 2007

We got hit here also, but not to that magnitude. The little 2' creek on our property is now a 6' creek, trees & limbs are down and its a real mess.

Although having a tractor to clean up really helps. Our elevation is 550' so I doubt if our house would ever flood.

I heard that they were going to redesign the stretch of I-5 that flooded way back in 96, but the govt. could not agree on what to do, so they did nothing

ultrarunner · Dec 7, 2007

I know Adna WA was hit hard. I think several TBN members live in the area...

Like to know if the WA and OR members made it through OK.

Shimon · Dec 9, 2007

It's sad to read the paper and see all the photos of the destruction. My heart goes out to all those affected by the flooding. Not a good way to spend the holidays.

But, on the other hand, that same area flooded in 96. Similar conditions. Promises were made to improve the situation. Plans were laid out to move or raise or do something about I-5 in that area. Of course, nothing was done other than more development and more clear cutting.

I don't have issues with either development or clear cutting...as long as it's done smartly. Large expanses of clear cut hills had tons and tons of mud washing down into the rivers which helped make the flooding worse. Developing land in a know flood plain is another issue.

I'm not trying to place blame because that isn't fair to anyone. All I'm saying is that it's happened before and it will happen again and unless we stop acting like idiots...next time it may be worse.

I guess that adage is true: The only thing man learns from history is that man learns nothing from history.

Highbeam · Dec 12, 2007

I had the rubber boots and rain gear on ready for sandbagging duty here in the Puyallup river valley but we escaped with only minor puddles. Large areas of the puget sound were missed by this storm.

The folks from Chehalis on the news that were flooded out made comment about how very high flood insurance was and that that was why they didn't have it. Seems that once your location becomes a known flood plain with actual history of flooding that your premiums must skyrocket.

It is a beautiful area and I can see why folks would want to live there. So is Orting, where a lahar will sweep away those folks without the benefit of a weather forecast. I know of several places that I wouldn't want to live even though thousands of folks live there.

I work in a city that has areas protected by a dike system. Without the dike, the rivers would regularly flood the lowlands. These dikes need maintenance to resist the erosive forces of nature and the responsible agencies (generally federal) are not willing to do it. They don't even dredge the rivers anymore so the channel capacity is constantly reduced while development proceeds.

InlineDieselFan · Dec 14, 2007

ultrarunner,

I did just fine, steeldust should be fine he is even higher up the hill than I am.

I was stranded at work for a bit, then Friday we delivered Pizza's and muffins with juice water and soda pop out to the farms, Saturday and Sunday I went down to help out. Saturday I only had a few hours so I fixed up flats on a farmers wheelbarrows; then took him mine whellbarrow and more tools. Then Sunday I took my Kubota over and moved many tons of silt and muck.

What was great about it besides the fact I got to help someone I did not know at the time and was really appreciative of the help. My 34hp Kubota moved way more than his 57-58hp JD, that his friend was driving.

I was able to use the bucket and box blade along with having 4WD. his tractor was 2WD gear shift and had a back blade and bucket.

The devastation is incrediable all through the valley, the logs that took out Chandler RD bridge were big and moving fast.

The old railroad track that the steam train uses are virtually totally gone. Almost every where the rock has been washed away and there are so many places that the tracks and boards are just hanging in the air.

Starting in the morning I get off work for 8 days and I am going out to help folks out for at least 3-4 of those days, Christmas for us will just wait we will try to make it somewhat bearible for others.

If you want sad you should have seen all of the dead cows and sheep through out the valley. When you see some old crusty dairy farmer crying like a little kid, while he is looking at his dead cows it will make you tear up also.

Now that I got all sad and depressed I'll hit the post botton.

steve

ultrarunner · Dec 14, 2007

Glad to hear you were OK and it is a credit to you for helping out. I'm down in the Bay Area and checked with my Thurston County neighbors... seems everyone I know was spared this time.

Last year's wind storm after the 30 days of rain we had really did a job on my place... I'm hoping for the best this year.

Thank You for lending a hand.

Sigarms · Dec 14, 2007

Perhaps not PC correct, but I'd guess it's not that big in the N.W because there isn't a large city with a minority population with low income that has been affected.

Point being that when flood waters hit the south, the only thing anyone ever really heard about was New Orleans.

tallyho8 · Dec 14, 2007

Sigarms said:
Perhaps not PC correct, but I'd guess it's not that big in the N.W because there isn't a large city with a minority population with low income that has been affected. Point being that when flood waters hit the south, the only thing anyone ever really heard about was New Orleans.

The REAL reason you heard so much about the New Orleans area is because 100,000 homes were under water for over a month with some neighborhoods losing their utilities for over a year. There has never been this large a disaster in America before.

It is a real tragedy when an area has 100 homes flooded. Now multiply that by one thousand times and you see the enormity of the flooding in the New Orleans area.

Sigarms · Dec 15, 2007

tallyho8 said:
The REAL reason you heard so much about the New Orleans area is because 100,000 homes were under water for over a month with some neighborhoods losing their utilities for over a year. There has never been this large a disaster in America before.

It is a real tragedy when an area has 100 homes flooded. Now multiply that by one thousand times and you see the enormity of the flooding in the New Orleans area.

I guess when you build a city off the cost, BELOW sea level, that could happen.

What ever happened to the mayor of New Orleans lawsuit agasint the federal goverment for like a billion dollars?

tallyho8 · Dec 16, 2007

Sigarms said:
I guess when you build a city off the cost, BELOW sea level, that could happen. What ever happened to the mayor of New Orleans lawsuit agasint the federal goverment for like a billion dollars?

Please remember that when New Orleans was built, it was 80 miles from the coastline and well above sea level. The coastline has eroded where New Orleans is now only 40 miles from the coast and many parts of New Orleans that were above sea level when built have sunk due to subsidence and are now below sea level. Everyone knows the eroding coastline is due to the Federal gov't building the levee system south of New Orleans and channeling the land-building silt from the Mississippi away from Louisiana and out into the deep waters of the gulf.

I have not heard about the mayor's lawsuit, if any, but unfortunately, a billion dollars would not even start to pay for the damages from Katrina. (The area suffered over a billion dollars in losses just from looting. Yes, you're right. It isn't only nice people who live there.)

But remember, flooding doesn't affect just people who live below sea level. It occurs in many mountainous regions also and none of its victims "deserves it"

Sigarms · Dec 16, 2007

tallyho8 said:
Please remember that when New Orleans was built, it was 80 miles from the coastline and well above sea level. The coastline has eroded where New Orleans is now only 40 miles from the coast and many parts of New Orleans that were above sea level when built have sunk due to subsidence and are now below sea level. Everyone knows the eroding coastline is due to the Federal gov't building the levee system south of New Orleans and channeling the land-building silt from the Mississippi away from Louisiana and out into the deep waters of the gulf.

I have not heard about the mayor's lawsuit, if any, but unfortunately, a billion dollars would not even start to pay for the damages from Katrina. (The area suffered over a billion dollars in losses just from looting. Yes, you're right. It isn't only nice people who live there.)

But remember, flooding doesn't affect just people who live below sea level. It occurs in many mountainous regions also and none of its victims "deserves it"

Apolgies, I realize I may come across "harsh", not my intentions.

From what I found, looks like the mayors lawsuit was for 77 billion dollars.

FOXNews.com - Mayor Nagin: We 'Piled It on' in Suit Against Army Corp of Engineers - Politics | Republican Party | Democratic Party | Political Spectrum

Guess after I donated money to the good people of the state that needed it, I'm got a little peeved that the mayor is now suing sp? (or was at the time).

tallyho8 · Dec 16, 2007

Sigarms said:
Guess after I donated money to the good people of the state that needed it, I'm got a little peeved that the mayor is now suing sp? (or was at the time).

That's easy to understand. There were so many thousands of generous people throughout America making donations to help out the victims of this disaster who were more than a little upset when they saw the news coverage of some of the greedy people who received their benefits. There have been reports of many people who had various charities pay for their damages and then they made a SBA "loan" to cover their damages that did not have to be repaid and then they had the Road Home program reimburse them for all their damages and now that they have been paid 3 times for the same damages they are suing to keep the SBA from making them now repay their loans since they recouped all their damages in other ways.

What really upset me is that the people who had no insurance at all received much more than the people who were insured. Maybe that won't bother me as much next time because now I am one of the uninsured since almost all of the insurance companies cancelled their policies in our area.

Sigarms · Dec 16, 2007

tallyho8 said:
That's easy to understand. There were so many thousands of generous people throughout America making donations to help out the victims of this disaster who were more than a little upset when they saw the news coverage of some of the greedy people who received their benefits.

I guess you just expressed it better than I could.

Sometimes I don't even know why we are required to have insurance. My wife, right before we got married had an "odd ball" fender bender that gave her a hairline crack in the transmission, so they ended up scrapping the car (less than a year old). Because it was my wifes fault (technically, long story but she ended up on the short end of the stick for being honest, seriously) they wanted to TRIPLE her car insurance after that.

This was after she had driven for 18 plus years without so much a speeding ticket before an accident (and paying her premiums in full for the same amount of time).

Sometimes I think we would all be better off if organized crime ran insurance companies. Figure it couldn't get any worse.

Sincerely sorry to hear about your situation. Ever notice that sometimes it's the guy who's honest and wants to do the "right thing" who ends up on the short end of the stick?