FLOODING FLOODING FLOODING

I recall working near the Sandy River in 1996. I witnessed devastation akin to the Christmas 1964 Flood.

I recall the woman I talked to in the afternoon. I strongly suggested she and her husband vacate their home at once. She agreed. The husband balked. I left. They stayed. In the night, the home was washed away, the wife and husband inside their home, into the Sandy R.. The husband grasped for her outstretched hand as the house (decapitated after it had passed beneath 3 bridges) passed out into the Columbia R. The tug boat crewman pulled on the husband as the husband pulled on his wife. The wife let go and sunk below into the remnants of the home as the Columbia R. claimed the house and the woman. She was never seen again.

Today, I went out and checked out my unofficial gage (the Troutdale RR Bridge & the Columbia R. Hwy. as it curves right below the bridge). The water has receded several feet below where it had reached. The skies are black to the East. I do hope that no more warm rain falls over the West slopes of the Cascades.