Too Much Excitement II

The top image is on Gun Club Road looking South (away from our subdivision). This is a main road into town from our house. When there is high water at the bridge level there are gates that actually close off the road. Yesterday early AM a car got stranded before they closed the gates. In these images you cant even SEE the gates. See the little white sign on the left side of this pict? That sign is at the driveway of an apt complex where our friends live.

If you look at the second image closely (this is taken looking North towards our subdivision) you can barely see the tops of a house and other buildings just behind that green tree on the left side of the pict. I know what you are thinking, who in their right mind builds an expensive house and builings in a flood plain? That is what we thought too...Hope that they have REALLY good flood insurance. Keep that house in mind as you look at the bottom of these images of Gun Club Rd....

 This next (bottom image) is taken from almost the same spot at 2pm TODAY. Can you see the sign? Now guess where that house is on the opposite side of the road - most likely completely UNDER water. The house at the top of the hill is also flooded. The apartment complex is on the left side of this image - the water line is past the parking lot and is hovering just below the edge of getting into the apartments at the front and river side of the apartments. The only other way out is a narrow egress at the back of the complex. See the sparkle on the top of the water - the rain stopped and we got actual sunshine for about 1 hour. The black clouds have now moved in again (it is only 330pm) and the rain has started again already.

 This top image is taken of the new pedestrian bridge that has been built at Riverview Park, again at 10am this morning. Can you find the bridge in the bottom image? Normally, I think there is a small creek that runs under the bridge. This is still West of the main river, which is well behind that back bank of trees....

 This last image was posted online from Salem. They are having just as difficult a time as we are here. I can only imagine the panic of the bus driver and any children/adults on that bus as it got swept off the road. I dont have any new updates about this story at this time.

The Independence Police Dept is updating their FB often. Here is a list of all the currently closed roads in Monmouth and Independence (as of 330pm).

Riddell Road is closed between Hoffman to WOU (this is the way we usually go to church. They are continuing to have problems at this spot because water is running downhill from Riddell down Hoffman to Hwy 99.)
Van Well is closed from Hwy 22 to Starr Road to Beck Road.
Helmick Road is closed from Monmouth city limits to Stapleton Road.
... Helmick Road closed at Helmick Park between Simpson and Old Fort
Black Rock is closed from Mitchell Road; Weyerhaeuser has opened the gate for access at Socialist Valley Road.
Dejong Road closed at county line.
Airlie Road closed between Maple Grove and Simpson
Ira Hooker - Closed
Rickreall - Closed at dairy to Greenwood Road
Elkins - one lane closed near Zumwalt
Buena Vista Road closed at Benton Co Line
55th at Hwy 22
Corvallis Road Closed northbound at Suver
Corvallis Road Closed southbound at Prather
Davidson Road is closed
Parker Road closed north of Old Fort
High, standing water Hwy 51 @ Greenvilla Farm (this is one of two ways we get to Salem)
High water, water flowing over the roadway Highway 22 in the West Salem area and Kings Valley Highway (posted I/O 2pm today)

Most of these are main roadways that connect all of our small rurual communities. I know there are also tons of roads closed in all the outlying areas around us. Charter schools west of us were closed this morning due to routes quickly being cut off by floods. We have several families in the ward who had kiddos arrive home around lunchtime, thankfully safely. They have evacuated larger cities around us - Salem was put on Emergency status, with some children being stranded at their schools, and floodwaters close to Salem airport. Turner is not allowing anyone in or out, and Scio where our ORCA admin offices are was evacuated because of flooding earlier today. The news continues to update the status of our local communities as well as larger cities all around us.

I also just took at look at our local newspaper online status - for anyone who needs this info - this is current as of 330pm:

* According to the city of Independence, the city's sewer system is currently overflowing. Residents may notice water backing up in their basements and are asked to use caution as it may be contaminated. The city is using two high-capacity pumpers to help resolve the issue.

* There are three self-serve sand bag stations now open in Monmouth and Independence. Each have bags, sand and shovels for residents to fill there own bags. The Polk County CERT team has also been activated and are assisting with sandbagging. The locations are: Polk County Fire District No. 1 back parking lot; Monmouth Public Works in the "S" curves; and the gravel parking lot north of the Independence Civic Center on Main Street.

Well, there you have it. We started the week out with snow (Kaeli took picts Sunday, will post those soon) and that snow quickly melted in our immediate area and from local hills/mountains to create havoc and chaos in the last 2 days. We are supposed to still have almost 100% chance of rain for the next several days as well. Will try to update posts and picts as we get them. Stay tuned....

PS - all images shared here are courtesty of images shared by the Independence Police Department, and the City of Independence from FB pages. You can see more images of our communities on FB by doing a search there.