The second flood

As you may remember we had some flooding a few weeks back, the first flood was on a Friday and the Wednesday after we had more flooding. The water is now gone, just in time for another flood watch, and I've been working on the clean up. The dirt that was washed in is heavy clay. I sprayed, shoveled and swept what I could and the rest will just have to stay for now.

There is a lot of mulch from the berry fields, stuff from the compost (chicken coop bedding, vegetables), sticks and branches and even a dead bird that all needs to be cleaned up. I haven't been in the garden to pull everything that's left. There is a water line in the trees that doesn't seem to be going anywhere.

By the time I was able to get out there to take photos, that water had already started going down and had dropped by about a foot. I wasn't about to wade around in above the ankle deep flood water with my camera! I will say some of the photos are beautiful and quite dramatic. The above photos are pretty close to what I woke up to, the tire swing was partially submerged, as was the step to the deck and the boot scrubber. Below is once the sun came up.

Every time we have a flood warning or watch, this is what I'm going to expect to happen. This way there will be no surprises. Our road was closed for almost 2 days, that didn't stop vehicles from going through. On the other side of the river (which also flooded) the sheriff was pulling anyone over that dared ignore the signs.

Even though we didn't have any damage or loss it is still an incredibly stressful situation to deal with. Last year, we had only a tiny bit of flooding, no where even close to what we just had. With every potential disaster I feel better equipped to deal with the next. Now I understand why my neighbors don't worry about the river. That isn't to say that I will become complacent. Everyday is one day closer to the end of the rainy season, only 3 more months to go.