The highs and lows of a river

Some of you might recall all of the photography that I did during the record flood events of this past January 2009. The Snoqualmie River crested nearly foot higher than it ever had been recorded before, SR 202 was washed out and homes destroyed just east of Fall City, schools were closed for three days, and for some local residence in the Valley the impact is still being felt today.
Thankfully I went down to similar locations where I normally photograph the river flowing through Fall City the week before Labor Day Weekend to capture some of the river before heavy rains over the weekend brought river levels up a bit. The late summer river is the lowest I've ever seen it! The extremely dry weather we have had since May combined with snowpack that melted out fast during the July heat means not much left is coming down the creeks and rivers of the Snoqualmie Basin (and all other river basins in the region). The result is a river you can wade across in many areas, huge logs left high and dry on gravel bars. It was pretty neat! The large log in the river by town floated away sometime over the holiday weekend.

It is fun to compare the river between these two events: flood vs. dry summer. All happening in the same year too!

The departure of high waters in The Valley

It feels somewhat relaxing to see the Snoqualmie River back down again, looking innocently peaceful and now hard to fathom how water could have filled that much of a void above the current river levels. Amazing! OK, it's time to start putting the weather behind me and get busy searching for wonderful things in the natural world to learn about and photograph -- time to head out and find the Trumpeter Swans again and search for a reported small flock of Snow Geese in the lower Snoqualmie Valley and also down by the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge!
(photos top to bottom: (1)SR 202 late Wednesday as river approached crest of flood event; (2)Alderra Field aftermath - play ball anyone?; (3)Neal Road heading toward Fall City Farms; (4)Fishing anyone? WDFW public boat launch area near confluence of Raging/Snoqualmie Rivers

SR 202 washout and airlift

Sadly, one of the main state highways in the Snoqualmie Valley, SR 202, became the scene of earmark video and images seen around the region and even outside of our state on Thursday afternoon 1/8/09. Not only did SR 202 have about a 90' section collapse and wash out, but the resulting rapid flow into the area homes ended in an emergency airlift of five or six members of the valley community. I'd like to personally thank every member of our regions emergency personnel and DOT agencies for all of the hard work put in 24-hrs a day helping make this flood event one throughout Washington pass without loss of life. And especially a thank you to the skills granted the fine individuals with the King County Sheriff staff flying Guardian Two and able to perform airlifts when things go from bad to worse.

Being capable of doing amazing things like these images only begin to share...we all should extend our thanks to them. Also do not forget to say thank you to your own neighbors who cared to ask you if you were doing OK.

(photos: scenes from east of Fall City on SR 202 showing aid personnel, washed out areas of the highway, airlift operations, etc...)

Too much water...a record flood on the Snoqualmie River

What a way to have the kids ease back into the school deal after an almost three week Christmas break. Monday a half day of school due to melting new snow, and one full day Tuesday. Now massive snows of the past three weeks have been flushed through Fall City and many surrounding communities from the Cascade Mountains runoff of melting snow and up to 17" of rainfall in under 48 hours at some mountain remote gauges. I've been busy trying to track what events have been occurring in our community, and also track what to do with yet three more days missed from school Wed-Fri this week! The Snoqualmie River near Carnation crested yesterday morning at 62.31 feet, a full foot higher than any previously recorded crest of the river since 1932. That is over 8 feet above flood stage across the entire valley! At Snoqualmie Falls the peak flow rate was over 60,300 cubic feet per second of water. Flood stage is 20,000cfs and most people who visit the falls see 2000-3000cfs or less. As I get through events of the past few days I'll continue to update things with what photographic journalism I got around to seeing - too much to share in just one post! (photos top-to-bottom: Welcome to Fall City and SR 202 bridge; Neal Road by King County Park; Fall City Grill on SR 203; SR 202 just east of Fall City before the washout occurred)