Rain, Rain and more Rain

Last week Washington State experienced an incredible amount of rainfall and subsequent flooding. Our neighborhood received 4 inches of rain in one day, but on the peninsula, they had 15 inches of rain and hurricane force winds! Plus there was 2 feet of snow melting in the mountains to add to the rivers.

Thankfully, we live in an area that doesn't flood, so our home was safe. For us the storm was full of fun as the children played in the pouring rain and we all loaded up and drove around splashing in puddles along the roads and in the parking lots of local warehouses. I've always had an affinity for puddle splashing, but this last week I experienced the biggest puddles of my life!

Since it was pouring rain on Monday, I drove Matt to work so he wouldn't have to get soaked before work. The warehouse parking lot already had at least 4 inches of water all the way across it, from warehouse to warehouse. On the way home, I was driving in the right lane of a major street (3 lanes in each direction) splashing in the occasional puddle along the edge. Well, suddenly I came up on a VERY deep puddle...it covered all three lanes of traffic on our side of the street! In the right lane it was probably 8-12 inches deep. I took my foot off the gas and slowed down to drove through, hoping I wouldn't stall the car. Suddenly, on my left, in the center lane, a huge truck came charging through the puddle and buried my car in water! I couldn't see for about 3 or 4 harrowing seconds! Whoa! Well, it was fun, though, and I took Matt through it later that day when he got off of work. The puddle was there the next day, too.

The flooding was incredible around here, and we live in the city. Parking lots filled as rivers of water flowed across roads and down embankments. We saw semi trucks and cars parked in 2-3 feet of water in several places. Just the water running down the road by our house carved paths over a foot deep in the dirt.

In other areas in Washington, rivers overflowed their banks and the interstate was covered in 10 feet of water! They closed I-5 for 3 days and the detour for trucks was 440 miles around! We saw pictures of a Walmart underwater and you could not see any windows or doors...just the top the building and the roof. It was devastating. The interstate was flooded in 1996, too, so the legislature passed a bill to pay for improvements so that wouldn't happen again. Sadly, the money was used for something else. How pathetic. And so they will ask for more money this year...what can you say to that?

The same problem happens with our schools and hospitals. They ask for money to make them earthquake safe, but the money ends up somewhere else, so a few years later they are asking for money again to make them earthquake safe. It's wrong.

The federal government will also give money to those who suffered in the flooding, as well. Some people will rebuild again in the flood plane, which I think is also wrong. If you want to live there, it should be at your own risk. If an area consistently floods (or experiences wildfires) folks should not be allowed to rebuild there and expect compensation when the damage occurs again. That is my 2 cents. Now I'm off to do laundry.