California: State of Emergency
I can't even count how many emergency flood situations I have been since moving to California, but we're having one now (just flood emergencies, there have also been earthquakes, wind storms,..).
I can't even remember when this all started, and at this point the days are all running together. I know it's been almost 2 weeks.
Was it Monday when J came to evacuate her doelings? I don't even know, but it turned out to be a good move, as their barn flooded the next day.
The water went up just a bit, but it went down.
Then we got about 1 1/2 inches of rain in about 4 hours. I guess that's when the real trouble started.
This combined with extremely high tides causes all the rivers and streams to back up and pour into my field.
One night the water was about 1 1/2 feet deep in the barn, but the water was too deep to drive through to evacuate the goats. I turned them onto the shavings and hay and hoped they'd be O K until the water went down enough to get them out.
Oh yeah, then there's the problem of the bridge out of town; when the river reaches a certain level the road is flooded and we can't get across. There is an alternate route, but it's about 45 minutes around, and also often closed in flood situations.
On Thursday ( as far back as I can remember clearly) the water went down with a good low tide enough for me to shuttle about 25 goats to the fairgrounds. The sheep were lambing in horrible weather and many were stranded on an island. I did manage to get them into the highest part of the field.
My horse and I walked the length of the field knee deep in water with no green grass in sight.
I can't even remember what happened on Friday.
Like we needed even more trouble, yesterday morning we had a hellacious windstorm that just tore everything to pieces. I woke to dim lights that eventually went out all together. It turned out a tree had taken out one leg of our power, then the sub station at the bridge flooded and the whole town was out of elec. And the bridge was closed.
My barn roof it totally ripped off, 2 of my kid sheds are all over and broken to pieces. But, kudos to me, the barn I built 2 years ago is still standing.
Last night the river once again rose to over flood stage, eventually reaching the 6th highest level on record. The water at my ranch was higher than I have ever seen it.
Ted and I hiked in through the neighbors field which still had some exposed grass, but we still had to ford some areas deeper than our boots.
The sheep were on a very very small strip of ground, extremely muddy at this point as they have been living there for days. Lots of muddy wet and cold new lambs, I have 3 I am already bottle feeding, and I found another on the brink of death.
The remaining goats and my horse still had a place to lie down, but any more rise and there would be none.
But, there was a nice low minus tide that would hopefully alleviate this.
The lamb got brought home and immersed in the sink in warm water to bring her temperature up. In about an hour she was miraculously revived.
Today we woke to still no power, but we hadn't had nuch rain over the past few days, so I was hoping the water levels would begin to drop.
The bridge was open and rumor had it that Eureka had power, so we were pretty glad to get out of New Orleans, I mean Ferndale, and go somewhere else. We needed candles and some dry clothes; no power means no dryer and we are running out of clothes.
This evening the water had dropped enough that I could once again drive my little truck to my ranch.
We do have water and hot water via our propane, And telephone and a stove.
I just went over to a friends to give them the lamb and I saw thet Ferndale has power, but we still don't. It almost made me cry to see our little town back to life.
And when I delivered the lamb, they asked if I didn't want to borrow their generator, as their power was back on.
So here we sit with the satellite TV, lights, and the Internet all plugged into the little engine in the woodshed.
The high seas are predicted to finally calm. Even though this rain will continue for at least another week, as long as it can all drain away, things might return to normal and I can bring the goats back home. My first doe is due to kid on the 20th.
I am ready to move.
I can't even remember when this all started, and at this point the days are all running together. I know it's been almost 2 weeks.
Was it Monday when J came to evacuate her doelings? I don't even know, but it turned out to be a good move, as their barn flooded the next day.
The water went up just a bit, but it went down.
Then we got about 1 1/2 inches of rain in about 4 hours. I guess that's when the real trouble started.
This combined with extremely high tides causes all the rivers and streams to back up and pour into my field.
One night the water was about 1 1/2 feet deep in the barn, but the water was too deep to drive through to evacuate the goats. I turned them onto the shavings and hay and hoped they'd be O K until the water went down enough to get them out.
Oh yeah, then there's the problem of the bridge out of town; when the river reaches a certain level the road is flooded and we can't get across. There is an alternate route, but it's about 45 minutes around, and also often closed in flood situations.
On Thursday ( as far back as I can remember clearly) the water went down with a good low tide enough for me to shuttle about 25 goats to the fairgrounds. The sheep were lambing in horrible weather and many were stranded on an island. I did manage to get them into the highest part of the field.
My horse and I walked the length of the field knee deep in water with no green grass in sight.
I can't even remember what happened on Friday.
Like we needed even more trouble, yesterday morning we had a hellacious windstorm that just tore everything to pieces. I woke to dim lights that eventually went out all together. It turned out a tree had taken out one leg of our power, then the sub station at the bridge flooded and the whole town was out of elec. And the bridge was closed.
My barn roof it totally ripped off, 2 of my kid sheds are all over and broken to pieces. But, kudos to me, the barn I built 2 years ago is still standing.
Last night the river once again rose to over flood stage, eventually reaching the 6th highest level on record. The water at my ranch was higher than I have ever seen it.
Ted and I hiked in through the neighbors field which still had some exposed grass, but we still had to ford some areas deeper than our boots.
The sheep were on a very very small strip of ground, extremely muddy at this point as they have been living there for days. Lots of muddy wet and cold new lambs, I have 3 I am already bottle feeding, and I found another on the brink of death.
The remaining goats and my horse still had a place to lie down, but any more rise and there would be none.
But, there was a nice low minus tide that would hopefully alleviate this.
The lamb got brought home and immersed in the sink in warm water to bring her temperature up. In about an hour she was miraculously revived.
Today we woke to still no power, but we hadn't had nuch rain over the past few days, so I was hoping the water levels would begin to drop.
The bridge was open and rumor had it that Eureka had power, so we were pretty glad to get out of New Orleans, I mean Ferndale, and go somewhere else. We needed candles and some dry clothes; no power means no dryer and we are running out of clothes.
This evening the water had dropped enough that I could once again drive my little truck to my ranch.
We do have water and hot water via our propane, And telephone and a stove.
I just went over to a friends to give them the lamb and I saw thet Ferndale has power, but we still don't. It almost made me cry to see our little town back to life.
And when I delivered the lamb, they asked if I didn't want to borrow their generator, as their power was back on.
So here we sit with the satellite TV, lights, and the Internet all plugged into the little engine in the woodshed.
The high seas are predicted to finally calm. Even though this rain will continue for at least another week, as long as it can all drain away, things might return to normal and I can bring the goats back home. My first doe is due to kid on the 20th.
I am ready to move.
posted by sarah at 8:19 PM
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