Vol 1 No. 2 - January 2007

THE GREAT FLOOD OF 2006

At the last general meeting we talked about having a report on the recent flood. While it's not the vintage of history we will typically deal with, it soon will be old news. We'll have to hold Indian Geography until next newsletter so we don't get these newsletters too long. It wouldn't do to overdose the membership on too much history at one time. Better to stretch it out just a little bit and let the mystery grow.

Floods are like snowflakes; no two are exactly alike. The flood of November 6, 2006 may have seemed so to us, but it was not the largest flood seen by man on the upper Cowlitz River . Statistically, it was a ways down the list, as the flow was measured by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) at the James Frankland bridge in Packwood.

There are no other stream gauges on the upper Cowlitz River whereby comparisons can be made between the flood level at Packwood versus the level at Randle. While the gauge at Packwood has been operational since 1911 excepting for the decade of the 1920's, information at Randle is available only since about 1993, and even that is not continuous. In addition, once the Cowlitz reaches flood stage at Randle, it spreads across the valley so much that a flow reading is nigh impossible. As a general rule, however, one can probably assume that a flood with a recurrence interval of 50 years at Packwood would be equivalent to an interval of 100 or more years at Randle. A number of large streams – Johnson, Smith, Davis , Kilborn, and Silver Creeks enter the Cowlitz between Packwood and Randle.

The recent flood does have a number of distinctions. It did have the highest stream gauge reading, 14.59 feet, as reported by The Chronicle. The largest recorded flood on December 21, 1933 had a reading of 13.00. Note in the table that the revised USGS reading at Packwood was 11.60. It is unknown why there is such a discrepancy

While most floods are caused by rain-on-snow events, the recent flood was caused entirely by rain. The community of Packwood recorded a total of 7.69 inches of rain November 6, 2006, easily breaking the previous single day record of 5.32 inches on November 28, 1955. Packwood is located in a rain shadow and receives less rainfall than surrounding areas. In contrast to Packwood's single day rainfall record, the record at Randle is 10.58 inches on December 31, 1950.

In terms of property damage, the 2006 flood probably was the most costly. The Cowlitz River washed away four homes, the most since four homes were swept away by the Cowlitz River and Butter Creek during the 1977 flood. Had not riprap been placed along the Cowlitz River and Butter Creek after the 1977 flood, the damage from November's flood would have been significantly greater.

Two lives were lost in separate incidents November 6 th , the most – to my knowledge – since five were lost during the Shoemaker Flood of 1896. The entire Shoemaker family of Nesika, except for the father, drowned in that flood.

Another distinction of the recent flood is that it was the first of this century. The last flood was February 8, 1996, which incidentally was the latest date in winter for a major flood. It was not the earliest November flood in the list below, but it was earlier than the normal flood. And ten times as many people had to be rescued from this flood as from the one in 1996.

Mention was made during the last general meeting that the White Pass Shopper had printed a table comparing the various Cowlitz Floods at Packwood. The Shopper had printed a similar table in 1991, and I have taken the liberty of combining the two tables.

The Tall Tree

This story is so amusing it just begs to be shared with the membership. It's a wonder some kids survived their escapades.

This story takes place in the fall of 1942 after we had came back from a short stay in Cleveland , Ohio , visiting Dad's folks. Dad worked for about a year at different jobs, but found out he could do better out here so we came back. We stayed at Uncle Hi and Margie's place on Smith Road until we got a place of our own over town.

Well just behind Hi's shop and a little to the right was a real tall fir tree. It was maybe hundred and twenty tall at least and the limbs were all the way down to about twenty feet up from the ground.

I was coming back from over town and the wind was blowing hard enough to make the trees go back and forth and in big circles at the top.

As I was walking down Smith the trees at the end were just going nuts. I stopped and watched them for a few minutes and thought, “What a lot of fun it would be if you could ride in the top of one.”

Well that's when the idea came to me. “Why not, there was that big tree in back of Hi's shop”. Now all I had to do was figure out how to get to the top. If I could just get to the limbs the rest would be easy. Then I remembered that Hi had a big box of bridge spikes in his shop. They were about sixteen inches long; they would make a fine ladder.

Now I had to find the right time to get the spikes and make the ladder up to the limbs. It wasn't long until they all went to town and I stayed home. Now was the time to make the ladder.

I found a piece of rope for a climbing belt, got a shop hammer and the spikes from the shop and started making the ladder. I didn't want them to see the ladder so I drove the spikes in on the one side facing the house and worked my way up to the limbs. I started with the first spike about two feet from the ground, the next one went on the opposite side and another two feet up. I did this until I couldn't reach the next one up, then I put on my climbing rope and went until I reached the limbs.

Then I climbed to the top and I could see clear all over town. “What a view!” This was nice, but I had to stand on a limb and hang onto the tree.

It would be nicer if I could sit down. Now if I cut the top out, I could nail a board on the top for a sit. Not a bad idea, so I went down and got Hi's hand saw and cut the top out. Then I nailed a board on the top so I could sit down. Then I went down and cleaned up the top and put it on the back side of an old brush pile. Now all I had to do was wait for the wind to blow like it did that day I got the idea. I went up the tree lots of times when nobody was looking and watched people over town.

I had to wait for quite a while before the wind blew like it did that day. Then I had to wait for my chance to get out of the house, but it finally came. I ran quickly to the tree and climbed to the top and sit down on the board. “WHAT A RIDE!” I had to hang on like mad. That old tree was really going to town.

I rode it for about five minutes. It was so much fun I got carried away and started to whopping it up. It was about then that Aunt Margie walked out on the back porch and heard all this commotion. Now she knew that the voice she heard coming from above wasn't God. She didn't know what God's voice sounded like, but this voice sounded like a Bud.

She looked up and seen me in the top of that tree. Now I'm not going to write down all of what she yelled up, because it might set the paper on fire. I just knew they could hear her clear over town. It went something like this, “GET TO HELL DOWN OUT OF THAT TREE, RIGHT NOW!!! WHAT IN THE HELL ARE YOU THINKING? DO YOU WANT TO KILL YOURSELF? NOW!!.” Boy, I came down out of that tree faster than any squirrel could.

The next day Hi cut the tree down, pulled out all his bridge spikes, and cut the tree up into firewood, and I had to pile all the limbs. Well I can say it was fun while it lasted, but it wasn't the smartest thing I ever did. And to this day, if I listen close, I can still hear Margie's voice. Did this really and truly happen? You had better believe it did!

Bud Panco