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  • From: EarthNSky <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>
  • To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Homestead] Primitive Technology Living
  • Date: Sat, 18 Oct 2008 18:06:02 -0400

You are giving me chills.
I have mentioned this here before, but my birthmother died in the Big Thompson Flood in 1976 in Colorado. Everything you describe, from the upcanyon calls, to the wall of water, to the debris, to the helicopters etc. etc. is what happened there, too.

Always have a plan Sage, just in case. Never, ever, drive where you cannot see the road. They had apparently stopped because the road was washed out ahead. Officer Purdy, who is memorialized, stopped to help them get to high ground. They were unable to do that before the wall of water him them. My mother was found 4 weeks later, but their pickup truck was never found. Just a cautionary tale....

Bev

eureka AT hctc.net wrote:
Our house is about 32 inches higher than where the river rose to, and our sheep pen and garden another foot higher. That doesn't sound like much but I think it would have to rain a whole lot more because at this point the land flattens out into prairie and it would spread out. Our worst problem is the creek that divides our property is only about fifteen feet from the house and when the river floods the creek has nowhere to go and backs up. I've heard this was not the case when there was a low water crossing but sometime in the 50's culverts were installed and get clogged with trees "coming down". We try to keep our portion of it free of fallen wood and dead trees, but have no control over the mountain behind us. I carry flood insurance even though FEMA does not consider it necessary, just in case.

During the first big flood I was still unpacking and moving in. (This was the three slug flood). Someone called to tell me there was going to be a flood. This is the protocol: if you live upstream, you call everyone you know downstream. I looked into the creek, and nothing. Fifteen minutes later I looked and it was twenty feet deep! I decided to stop unpacking, it was like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. I called a neighbor who told me not to worry. He went down and placed rocks as markers on the street where the water had risen to. He came back about twenty minutes later and the rocks were underwater. I could see he was concerned. He and his wife came over with a truck and helped me get all my animals into carriers and took us into their home, about two feet higher than mine. Someone's large bull ended up in my front yard. Deer gathered on the street. I have never heard so much water, all around me.

Others not so fortunate have to be rescued by helicopters from their roofs. I don't think our house will flood, but it would be nice to have a permanent ladder to the roof!





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