Schoonover Farm Blog

This photo is from Friday afternoon with the clouds on the hillside near us.

Saturday morning there was pink in the sunrise behind the Christmas tree.

But it was actually a nice day.  The plan had been for Tom, Mo, my dad and me to go to the Washington Vintage Motorcyclists club potluck.  But it was cancelled as the building was being used as an evacuation site for flooded Burlington.  So we had an impromptu potluck here, adding Russ, Jay and the grandkids.

We then went out to dinner with Thomas and Diana joining us at Max Dales in Mount Vernon.  It had been closed by the flooding too but had reopened.  It was a lovely dinner where we celebrated my father’s upcoming birthday.

Today is a lazy day.  We did the animal chores.  I noticed that the web cam at Whistlin’ Jacks is functioning again, but the river is still running high.  We did get a new flood warning yesterday for flooding to start again tomorrow.  So nervously watching the forecasts and river levels again.  We may need to get more sandbags.

Now we are watching the Seahawks play Philip Rivers and the Indianapolis Colts.  So far it is a tie game.

On a totally different note, I have been doing some research into the Green River Killer, Gary Ridgway.  His killings were an important part of my upbringing as he brought fear into our lives.  Whenever we went over the Green River on the way to the family cabin in my 1980s and 1990s I looked down into the river wondering if there were bodies there.  But fairly recently I learned that a classmate of mine in Junior High and High School was a victim of his.  Her name was Mary Bridget Meehan.  Here are her photos in my Chinook Junior High School yearbooks.  She was in the year ahead of me.  I don’t remember knowing her.

She grew up in my neighborhood in Ashwood.  She hung out at Y.E.S. and the bowling alley in Bellevue like I did.  She went missing September 15, 1982, and her body was found November 13, 1983.  She was the ninth known victim of him.  I am reading the Ann Rule book, Green River, Running Red.  I am most of the way through it, and it is horrifying.  Some of the victims were found within feet of highway 410 which we drove frequently.  It is all so spooky.  And this spookiness infiltrated by teenage and early adult years until the killer was finally identified.  I feel for these victims and their families.  My understanding is that Gary Ridgeway is dying, and I wanted to bring some attention to his evil deeds.

As you may have heard, Washington State has been experiencing severe rain and flooding.  And our county has been severely affected.  On Tuesday just before lunch, we had almost 1 1/2 inches per Grampa’s rain gauge.

This is the prediction from yesterday morning of the Samish River near Burlington.  We live closest to this river but upstream from Burlington.  But you can see how devastating the predictions were.

 

The huge worry is the Skagit River and its predicted crest tomorrow.  Here is the prediction from yesterday morning.

I was at work yesterday so Tom got the brunt of the flooding work.  Here are our pastures from then, and the water was rising.

So Tom got some sandbags at the Hickson Fire Hall and added some protection for the barn.  All the animals were in the barn or behind it closer to the hill and the higher ground.  The plan is to move the 4 legged livestock to this hill and the poultry to the hayloft in the barn.  One unresolved issue is what to do with our disabled ewe Vanessa who cannot walk who might be able to go to the hay loft or our back porch.  Fortunately we didn’t need to do any of this.  Our neighbors offered to take our animals in as well which is so kind.

Tom ran some errands in the afternoon, and this is the Samish River on Highway 99.

Here is our barn and the two 275 gallon water containers we use to collect rainwater from its roof.  Tom told me that it was raining so hard yesterday that both of them filled up within one hour!  Crazy rain!

Below is the 100-year flood map of our general area.

This became important because yesterday at 5:54 PM we received this alert to evacuate on our cell phones.

Later they revised it that all residents within the 100-year floodplain should evacuate immediately.

 

 

If you look at the county’s online map, here is a close-up of the floodplain and our farm in the middle of the photo.  We are barely outside the evacuation area.

 

We are also worrying about the folks upriver.  The predictions for the Skagit River at Concrete were at devastating levels.

 

Today at noon the actually levels weren’t as bad as predicted but still scary high.

 

Then yesterday evening we received an unusual flash flood warning with concerns that the levees and dikes on the Skagit River may fail and cause major rapid flooding,  This is one of my huge ongoing concerns.

Unfortunately there are not good maps as to where this flash flooding may occur.  This is the best map I could find.  Apparently real estate agents have access to flood maps that include potential levee failure flooding, but we, the affected public, do not have access to this information.  So this map includes us, but I am not sure how a levee failure on the Skagit River would travel this far to affect us.

I got off of work this morning and helped with the chores.  Then I looked at Grampa’s rain gauge again.  It showed a crazy amount of rain in the previous 48 hours for us, just as Tom had described.

This is a photo Tom took this afternoon just east of us on F&S Grade Road.  The water is flowing across the road moving between the two hay fields that our neighbor hays each year.  We buy our hay from him.

Here is looking left from the above photo of the inundated field.

I am also concerned about Central Washington which is also experiencing significant damage.  Here is a facebook photo (from the Chinook Pass and Nile site) showing a bridge that failed 2 days ago near Nile.

Here is a view from the webcam at Whistlin’Jacks from yesterday.  I am thinking they lost power and the web cam isn’t active now because of this.  But you can see how high and raging the river is.

I am worrying about the family cabin in the area but also about the Little Red School House near Naches (my favorite fruit stand).  It is near where Highway 12 is completely wiped out.  Here is a photo from yesterday by Sky’s Shutter on Facebook.  Hoping it is still standing today.

Tom ran errands again this afternoon. Here is Riverside bridge between Burlington and Mount Vernon.  There is some log debris on it but much more on the railroad bridge just upriver from it.

 

Here is the flood wall for downtown Mount Vernon.  It is seeping some but so far not failing.

 

Here is the water level from the devastating 2021 floods.  The photo was taken around 2 PM.  It has risen 1.25 feet since then.  I experienced the 1995 floods here in Skagit County, and we both experienced the 2004 floods.  We were sandbagging this same area before the flood wall was built.  I remembered vividly when we were told we could stop bagging, it suddenly became quiet, and we all watched the incredible power of the river.  It was awe inspiring.

Here are some video’s he took from the West Mount Vernon bridge with the debris and the flow.  They have since shut the bridge down this evening.

We are worrying about a lot of things, but West Mount Vernon is included.  They do not have a flood wall.  I know Katt’s Westside Stories was putting up sandbags, plastic and plywood today.  Hoping for the best.

Here’s the civil air patrol setting up in the parking lot next to the flood wall.  They will be assisting in monitoring the flooding in downtown Mount Vernon.

Here is the Conway area.  They had just closed access to Fir Island just before Tom arrived.

Then here is Chuckanut Drive as he was heading to our post office to pick up the mail.

 

I have been watching the news.  I am concerned about the levees and dikes failing but also the flood wall in Mount Vernon.  I am hoping none of this occurs, the flood waters recede, and there is no major damage or loss of lives.

I have been reading about people trying to figure out how to evacuation large quantities of livestock.  It is scary, but we are lucky here.  Please keep our county and others in your thoughts and prayers.

When the Levee Breaks by Led Zeppelin has been playing in my head all day.  Sadly it isn’t the original in my head, but I guess I am showing my generation.