Waters come up and spirits go down

Not mine, oddly enough.? More of my community at large.

If you live outside of the Pacific Northwest you probably have seen the national news and the fact that most of Washington is under water.? This same thing happened 13 months ago, but this is a little bigger.? At the current moment there is no way to get from Seattle to Portland via land.? All highways, freeways, side roads and rail lines are either covered in mud or water.? Airlines are running 1-way flight deals.? It’s pretty bad.

Fortunately, we live on a flat part of a side of a hill so our house doesn’t flood and we do a pretty good job of keeping our storm drain clear so that our neighbor’s house doesn’t flood.? Our challenge is going anywhere outside of our little hill.? Good thing is I don’t have anywhere to go today so we’ll stay close to home.

The rain has stopped, but not before it engulfed most of our county in water and debris.? The town that Derek and I have? been eyeing for future house building was evactuated yesterday.? It sits between 2 rivers that are fed from the mountain and the melting excessive snow pack and torrential rains caused both rivers to spill over.? We still love the area, but will seriously consider the location if we ever decide to get serious about finding a bit of land in that area.

Our biggest concern at the moment is the boy’s hockey rink.? It is on the tide flats in Tacoma and about 200 yards from the Puyallup River.? The facility is slightly elevated, but if the water enters the building we’ll have one really cold swiming pool.? No word yet on if the building is flooded.? I am guessing it is not.? These shots are taken less than 1/2 a mile from the rink.

The local paper has some great images of what the rest of WA looks like.

7 Comment

  1. Angela says: Reply

    Hi Elle,
    I’m sorry to hear about all the bad weather you are having. I hope it stops! I covet everything you have for sale at your Etsy shop but we are so poor at the moment. Maybe someday I can buy something. My blog isn’t public but if you would like to view it, email me. I have been lurking for awhile and am finally commenting. I will pray that you get some sun soon!
    Take care,
    Angela

  2. Sandy says: Reply

    Kevin was up there yesterday on a business trip and he said it was raining unlike anything he’d ever seen. I’m glad he was able to make it home.

  3. Love love love your January look.

    Yes, tis soggy here too. We are running two sump pumps and carefully plotting out our routes so as to avoid road closures. There is only one road (a little back street) into B’ham from here; of course it is backed up for hours. We’re staying put.

  4. mom says: Reply

    We finally see green! Sad that it took flooding to wash it all away. 🙁

  5. Ree says: Reply

    I’ve been watching the news and hoping that all of my bloggy friends are okay. Glad to hear that you are.

    I sat through a teleconference today and the woman running it is in Washington. She said the sun was out, so my hope is high that you got bathed in that sunlight today.

  6. Shelly says: Reply

    Hi Elle,

    I’ve followed your blog throughout the years. We adopted our boys from Komsomolk in 2005 with AIA and we talked some on the chats. You probably don’t remember 🙂 Just wanted to come out of hiding and say thanks for all the good stories on the blog! There are quite a few of us in Alaska that talk about your stories…

    We’re currently going broke and crazy waiting on court for a little girl in Khab Baby Orphanage 2, so thanks for all the distractions!

  7. Hey, Elle. Did you know you’re on BlogHer?! I clicked over here from an ad…

    Hope you stay dry over there.

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