Tuesday 26 June 2012

Flood Watch in Usk (Skeena River)

The other evening my friend down the road and I took a cruze around the neighbor hood to check and see what was going on.

Our neighbors yard was getting a little wet.

The river front view from the lady's porch.

We went down the other road to see how things are fairing.  The water was starting to seep up and over the road.

We went up on a hill and had a look at another very flooded out part of the yard.

I picked up all those yard things that might float away up as well as all the bikes and things in the shed that might get wrecked.  

Last thing I did before bed was go have a look at the river in my PJ's and Housecoat, because guess what?  I can!  Yes, it's one of the nice things about the ferry and the cable car being closed down.  You can wander to the river in your house coat and there are no looky-looks or ferry operators to think that you've lost your marbles.   The water was 11.295 meters high.

Yesterday morning after coffee I wandered back over to look again and seen it had come up a little more in the night.  The water was at 11.41 meters at 6am.

Water was starting to come up in the main part of the yard so my husband and I moved some of the useless Lawn Tractors (had to be towed by the quad) and his snowmobile.  I think he enjoyed moving the snowmobile.

There was starting to get to be a bit of a puddle in the main yard.

Water was starting to come up in between the house and the chicken house.  

Yeah, there's water.

My neighbor phoned to see if I wanted to go for a walk to Kitselas Canyon.  We were going to meet on the trail and hike down the train tracks.  But when I got to the trail there was quite a bit of water.

She decided to attempt the road and go around to meet me.  The water was getting deep.  This is the same place from a few pictures back where she is going through the water on the quads with her son the night before.  (Keep this picture in mind for her trip back.)   

Kitselas Canyon is about a 45 minute hike down the tracks at a good pace.  It's such a pretty thing.  All of the Skeena River squeezes through this spot.  The power is amazing.  we climbed up on this little ledge and sat there watching trees come down the river.

I just love watching those trees coming down getting sucked under, bobbing up, swirling straight up in the air or sometimes not even coming back up at all.

When we got back, another neighbor stopped us and let us know that the road was probably too deep for the quad to get back through.  Her husband wanted her to try, so my husband and another neighbor gave her a little advice for the attempt.

My husband has his waders on so offers to go in to see just how deep it is.

Yeah it's deep.

It is questionable, but just maybe she could get through.  She decides to give it a try.

Here we go!

At this point I am getting nervous!  Cant imagine how she feels as it give a few blub blub's.  Will she make it?  Will we need to tow her back out?  Is she floating?

She's still going!

Looks like she's going to make it!

She's done what the men in the neighborhood couldn't or wouldn't dare to do!

With a triumphant wave she is off.  Our thoughts were "Well, I guess that's the last time we will hang out until the water goes down."  

So yesterday the water peaked in the river.  This morning when I got up it was at about 11 meters at the gauge.   Even though the water in the river has started to go down, the water in the yard continued to come up over night.  I thought I would share some before and after pictures comparing yesterday afternoon to what the yard looked like this morning.

Looking out our door yesterday afternoon.

This Morning.

Yesterday afternoon.

This morning.

Yesterday afternoon.

This morning.

Yesterday afternoon.

This morning.

Yesterday afternoon.

This morning.

There is water on 3 sides of the house now.  I'm surprised that our toilet still flushes since the septic field is covered in water.  I am so happy that our basement is still dry!

My cat thought it would be a good idea to follow me around this morning.  He hates to be packed and had to jump through water in a few places.  Some places he refused to go though.

The back dip is really full.  The good thing about this is, there were a few chicken tractors that were to heavy and hard for me to move and now that they are floating I can canoe out to them and move them.

The Chicken pen has water right up to the house in the back.  I guess in some ways it's good I don't have chickens right now...

The water goes just about all around the chicken house now.

The Pig Pen has been floating.  I hope it settles nicely!  Good thing we didn't have pigs this year.


All and all we are faring well.  We have food in the pantry, drinking water, can get up out of the water and have good neighbors, friends and family.

A couple people hoped on the passenger train last night to get out of Usk.  I however plan on just staying and seeing what happens.  My husband is talking about catching it in because he is missing work.  We don't know when the Cable Car will be in service again.  I'll be fine out here, I'm sure.

 For now the river is going down.  Hopefully in the next day or so the ground water will follow.  The rives forecast was that it was supposed to peak yesterday but that if there is rain upstream it may come back up.  There is still lots of snow in the mountains for this time of year, but I'm just hoping for the best.  We've had cool weather since Sunday so that is a help.  I'll probably just leave everything up on the deck and in the upper stories of the house for a while even if the water does go down, just in case, for who can say what Mother Nature will surprise us with.

Sunday 24 June 2012

Flood Watch on the Skeena River

We are now on flood watch.  My husband and I went for a walk down the train tracks to Kitselas Canyon to see the power of the water flowing through there.  At his point in the river the Skeena River squeezes through the canyon.  The water sort of backs of from there because it is a rather narrow place in the river.  Our place is just up from the canyon, and we have felt the brunt of the backed up water in the past.  I've never been to the canyon at high water and was dying to go, so off we went.

Here is the Kitselas Canyon when I hiked up there about 5 months ago at low water.

This was the Canyon yesterday.  Notice the island in the middle up stream?

The water is really ripping through there.

Quite a bit of debris was coming down.  We sat and watched entire logs come through the canyon.  Some were sucked down and came up broken and I seen one whole green tree that disappeared under the water and didn't come back up.

Yesterday morning the river was at 10 meters as it had came up quite a bit in the night.  The dock needed to be moved up.

By about 4:30 yesterday evening it was at about 10.2 meters.  They pulled the dock up as far as it could be pulled.  We were informed that when the water reached 10.6 meters that the cable car would be shutting down.  Most likely by morning it would be time to leave if we were leaving.  This really had me stressed because my kids are out camping with their Grandparents and I have no way to reach them to bring the kids home.  I want to stay this time around, so I guess my kids will be having a few days sleep over at Grandparents houses.  I think the kids will be pleased.  I however am a little stressed.

This morning as of 3am the water was at 10.94 meters.  The water had reached this stage on the road in 2007  when I was told that if I was getting out that I had to go now.  The brings back memories and feelings seeing it there.  I left then and came back to disaster and no home then.  I am not leaving this time.

I'm thinking that anyone who did not get out last night, will not be leaving now until the water goes down.

The view from up on the Cable Car.

Turning around and looking at my house.  From my kitchen you can see the river flowing between the trees.

This is an Usk version of a traffic Jam.  Joking.  My husband is helping a neighbor tow his car that he's been working on to higher ground, and someone else is moving their cat to the hill.  This is the Cat and gentleman that sometimes pulls the docks and plows the roads in the winter.  He also runs the cable car and ferry.


Yesterday I moved up stuff in the yard that would float away if it does flood and today I will tie down the picnic table and move the rest of the stuff out of the basement.

It is my hope that we don't flood.  We had a hot day yesterday so I expect the water will still be coming up some from that, but the rest of the week is supposed to be cool.  So I'm hoping the melting slows down.  Tomorrow the new snow pack report is supposed to be released, and I hope that is down to more normal levels.  I just want this to be over with so we can get on with the rest of our summer.  I hate the waiting and not knowing.