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  • From: <eureka AT hctc.net>
  • To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Homestead] Primitive Technology Living
  • Date: Sat, 18 Oct 2008 22:27:36 -0500

Bev, I did not know, and I'm SO sorry to hear that flood touched your life. That must be painful to think about, my heart goes out to you.

I used to be a whitewater instructor so I have a very healthy respect for the power of water. I approach it with great caution. I've seen the damage it can do. In fact, that three slug flood took out the cabin I had been renting three weeks before moving into my house. Where I live there are some crossings that always have four to six inches of water flowing across--including mine in wetter years--so we have to keep aware of the weather at all times (we use wunderground.com) and always check the height of the water on the marked poles before crossing. It can be raining on the plateau but not here and still flood. Unfortunately the only USGS gauge is downstream but it does give us some indication. Our local DOT is pretty good about putting barriers across the roads too and we respect them. Fortunately our canyon is not as steep as those in Colorado and we could evacuate by foot through cut fence to higher ground if need be. Even as bad as they were, no lives were lost.

One of the ecological problems here is that when new people move in, they clear everything, including the native grasses, leaving only the ioak trees between their house and the river (there's this obsession about having to see everything, take the mystery out of it), so when it rains there's nothing to slow the water down. Gravel (since we don't have much in the way of soil) from erosion is starting to fill the swimming holes and the river is getting flatter and wider. No doubt FEMA will redraw the lines in the future.

--Sage





On Sat, 18 Oct 2008 18:06:02 -0400
EarthNSky <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net> wrote:
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




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