Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Last word from the hubby is that things are still holding north of Big Lake. He, along with many others, have been there for the last several days fortifying the secondary levee that was built in the last few weeks. The question is, can it hold until September?

Some have asked how close the danger is to our place. Well, if the secondary levee breaks north of Big Lake, our home still has a measure of protection from the Little Tarkio levee. However, we will lose some crops, and our neighbors will lose homes and crops. This also brings the waters one step closer to more of our farm ground and our home. And one step closer is never good. 

To answer the question, "What would have to happen for your home to be threatened?" well, there are a lot of variables. All I can tell you for sure if that in 1993, the water that was getting close to threatening us was coming from the south. If Fortescue floods, the water will begin backing up north-wards and possibly, eventually reach us. The thing about water? It always seeks its lowest point. And it keeps coming until it has a place to go. Case and point....

Here's a map showing the spreading of water from day to day from the levee break near Hamburg:

The water, if it keeps coming, just keeps spreading. And since the one factor we know for sure is that the water will keep coming until late August, then we also know for sure that once a levee breaks and the water starts to get in, it will be massive wide-spread flooding. This is just unlike any flood we've ever experienced because of the known longevity of it. As the Army Corps of Engineers likes to say, "We're in uncharted territory." Yeah. Let's hope we stay in DRY uncharted territory at that.