Frozen rivers in Carnation

Here comes the rain

Lousy mobile phone photo but I loved the light!

Some more pictures around the valley

My posting tonight is kind of random but I keep on finding snaps from today! The valley was looking awesome as you can see!


Moo! Old Carnation dairy.


Carnation Farm

Life in the valley

This morning we woke up to half an inch of snow on the ground. This was followed by rain, then hail and finally a beautiful sunny day. Ahh life in the Pacific Northwest is awesome!


Carnation Valley.

Microsoft XBOX is cooler than Nintendo Wii

Apparently Microsoft Xbox 360 is actually cooler than the Nintendo Wii after all.


Friday, January 9th 2009 09h39. Carnation, 32100 block of E Commercial Street. Xbox Gone.

A resident called police after discovering that an Xbox 360 game console, a game, and a controller were taken from the home during the night. Two people were sleeping in the room the console was stolen from; there was also a Wii game console in the room, which was not taken. Another strange development was the appearance of a BMX bicycle in the front yard of the home.

Post-flood repairs

Well it looks like the broken Tolt levy is getting repaired. It's quite amazing to see these huge trucks navigate down the trail with fulls loads.




To reverse or drive forward


This is the question...

Post flood damage

Now that the water is receding we are starting to see some of the actual damage that has been caused by the water. Here are some pictures around Carnation. I think the worst is still to come as a lot of areas are still covered in water and the damage can not be fully seen.


Highway 203


Downtown 203 near firestation


Remlinger farms pumpkin field


Another picture of Remlinger farms


Some flood debris near the Snoqualmie

National Guard at the firestation

After seeing the post on RPN about the National Guard being in town we decided to go down to the fire station to have a look and took the following picture.


Carnation fire-station

Woodinville/Duvall road this morning!

Pauline just sent me this picture of the Woodinville/ Duvall road this morning. As you can see the flood water has destroyed the road.


Photo credit: Pauline'y Wheeny

National Guard comes to Carnation

The Regional Public Information Network (RPIN) has the following article on how the Washington National Guard is coming to Carnation to help out with the flood situation.

The 176th Engineers of the Washington National Guard out of Snohomish County have been called in to assist firefighters with Eastside Fire & Rescue. Many homes in Carnation are still isolated and cut off from emergency services, making responses to these areas extremely dangerous and challenging to firefighting personnel. Washington National Guard resources include 12 guardsman, 1 Humvee vehicle, and 4 military 2 ½ ton high ground clearance all-wheel drive trucks. The military resources will be positioned at Eastside Fire & Rescue’s Fire Station 85 in the City of Carnation increasing our capability to access areas hardest hit by flood waters.

Many roads are now open in downtown North Bend and in the outlining communities. The developments of Moon Valley and Ernie’s Grove previously cut off by flood waters are now accessible to fire crews. The Lake Dorothy and SE Middle Fork Road blocked by a landslide remains closed at this time. The King County Roads Division is working to repair this section of road.

River waters in many areas are receding, and while many roads are beginning to open, many others will remain closed for an indefinite period of time. Over the next several days, the King County Roads Division will be focusing efforts on mobilizing to clean up debris, inspect bridges, and make temporary emergency repairs.

Motorist need to continue to heed the warning signs and stay out of the closure areas. The damage caused by the heavy rainfall and massive force of the rivers means roads could have been undercut severely damaging portions not visible to drivers. Motorists are also reminded never to drive around road closure signs or through any standing water.

Eastside Fire & Rescue would like to thank the many citizens of our area for their patience during these challenging issues. There have been no injuries or loss of life and this can be attributed to the support and cooperation of the community we serve.

National Guard doing flood rescue in KY (OK, so I wanted a picture)

Griselda wants to go down to have a look at the big all-wheel drive trucks as well as to give them some hot coffee and cookies as they are probably going to be cold as can be from wondering around in the flood waters.

Airborne video

Well I just had a look online and I must say the video is looking dramatic!


Source: Q13FOX

Griselda's mobile expunged

Griselda's iPhone is a treasure chest of pictures. I managed to steal it from her long enough to get these action pictures of when we came back into town at around 09:00 on Wednesday.

We are officialy an island

Nothing like stating the obvious :-)

Flooding Update - January 8, 2009
Thursday, January 08, 2009 at 10:30 AM

Carnation has been isolated by flood waters across Hwy 203. There is no access in or out of town. Drivers are advised not to attempt to cross flood waters. Residents are urged to be patient and wait for flood waters to receed. It will likely be at least 24 to 48 hours before roads are again passable. If you have an emergency, please call 911. For updated road information please visit one of the links below to King County or the Washington State Department of Transportation.

Source: City of Carnation

According to the good folks at King 5 the Snoqualmie is going to crest at 18:00 this evening and the water rise at least another half foot. Hopefully the worst of the damage is out of the way, but I guess we will have to wait until we are completely out of the woods.

House flooding in Carnation

This is the nasty side of the floods. Lots of homes are being flooded and peoples possessions destroyed.

Tree farm and Tolt park

XMas Tree Farm


Flooded park

More flood pictures from the Isle of Carnation

Here are some pictures taken at around 08:45 this morning. You can see that the water is continuing to rise and more houses are getting flooded. There seem to be a few cows still stuck at the farm but for the moment they look like they are on some high ground and will be OK for a while still.


Looking towards Duvall


Looking towards the Snoqualmie


Closeup showing the water from the Snoqualmie running over 203


Trapped cows

Carnation flood update

Carnation is still cut-off from the rest of the world. Highway 203 is flooded at both ends of town from the Tolt bridge to the farm. The police have been great with making sure that everyone is accounted for and that people are safe.

Here you can get an idea of the depth of the water. It has flooded both sides of the 203 and is continuing to rise. The police are stopped and are currently checking that everyone is accounted for and that people are being safe.


Accounting for people in Carnation

The other end of town is still cut-off and the road is closed by the container storage depot by Tolt Park. The situation here is interesting as the park is being flooded by water from the Tolt and Snoqualmie rivers and is at the highest level we have ever seen. As you can see from the following video the water has never been this high before.


Tolt park.

The sounds of nature

Waking to the sound of water flowing near your house is not a happy experience. I had a look out the front door and I don't think we are in any imminent danger, but it is unsettling to say the least.

You get a completely different perspective to the power of the water when you can hear it like that,

Even higher water levels

The beautiful spokesmodel and I did a quick tour 'la Carnation and the water level is even higher now. This means we are an island with diminishing real estate. Carnation Tree Farm is completely flooded and the middle schools parking lot is starting to fill up with water from the Tolt.

Carnations spokesmodel on Q13 FOX

For immediate release. Carnations informal flood spokesmodel made a brief appearance on Q13FOX's 9:00 PM evening broadcast where she demonstrated the sheer awesomeness of today’s floods for her fans around the world.


Spokesmodel on Q13 FOX

Our village does like some drama...

Oh our little village does enjoy some drama. Everywhere you went people were walking around taking pictures of the flooding. I don't think I have ever seen so many people on the trail in one go before. These pictures and video were taken at around 2:30 PM.


People walking on the trail to look at the Tolt


Tolt River trail bridge


The Tolt river


And some video

Snoqualmie river joins the fray

First it was the Tolt river flooding at record levels and now the Snoqualmie is starting to get some of the water from up-stream. The scary thing is that at 14h30 this afternoon the Snoqualmie had flooded to near November levels and we haven't even received any of the deluge yet.

It looks like we are going to be in an interesting situation as both of the rivers are going to flood to levels we have never seen before.


Snoqualmie river starting to flood Tolt Park


Spokesmodel demonstrating flooding in Tolt park


Flood fail


Flood hardship.

Carnation Island rises again!

Imperium res publica of Carnation Insula

Or to put it in the vernacular; the sovereign isle of Carnation will rise again!
It looks as if we are going to be experiencing record flooding and are probably going to become an island again

The Tolt River is experiencing significant flooding. The Tolt River has overtopped Hwy 203 (Tolt Avenue) closing the road southbound at NE 40th Street. Cars are prohibited from driving through the road closed barriers. The State Department of Transportation is also posting the closure on Hwy 203 at Fall City.

The Riverview School District has implemented early release of its students to insure their safety.

The Snoqualmie River is also experiencing significant flooding that could potentially overtop Hwy 203 both north and south of town leaving Carnation isolated for a period of time. Residents should be prepared for this possibility during the next 24 to 48 hours.

Flood information and road closure information is available at www.rpin.org.

Source:http://www.ci.carnation.wa.us

Tolt river floods Carnation

Good times! The Tolt river has broken it's banks and is now flooding the 203 in downtown Carnation. This is a first for us. Normally the Snoqualmie river floods and the water can come up very high. However having the Tolt flood is pretty scary as you can see.


Highway 203


Hope the fire station doesn't flood.



Source: http://green.kingcounty.gov/wlr/fwcas/USGS_MiniGageData.html

Carnation middle school closes due to floods.

This is a first since we have been in Carnation. The Tolt river has broken it's banks and the 203 has been closed because of water over the roadway from it. As you can see the middle school has been closed and they are currently sand bagging.

Oh fun times...

Carpe helix aspersa

Seize the snail! This little dude was rescued by a hippy that I met whilst having a look at the flooding of the Tolt river in main street Carnation.


Rescued snail.

Holiday lights

Yay our lights are up and look so purdy!