Local flooding. Pics added UPDATE! Final update...

[wolfsong]

After this past weekend's storms dumped 3 or 4 inches of rain in my neck of the woods the flooding has started. Up and down the state, from the coast to the Sierra Nevada flooding is happening in many locations.

Right now the sloughs on the eastern and southern borders of the ranch I live on are flooded and have made the two roads on those borders impassable. The floodwaters are quickly spreading onto the pasture and croplands and approaching the feed lot. Might have to get busy with the D6 and backhoe and build up some islands for the cattle to stand on. Thankfully the pens are at half capacity so there should be enough high ground to suffice. Sandbags are not an option...The houses/barns/shop aren't in danger, thankfully.

There is another major front moving in from the Pacific late Tuesday night that is expected to dump even more wet stuff, followed by yet another front on Saturday.

Oh, the joy of California weather. Severe drought followed by torrential rain. At least we are getting a lot of snow to add to the Sierra snowpack.

If I get the chance I will try to post a few pics/video of the flooding in the next few days. If the flooding spreads much more the only road off the ranch will be under water. If that happens I won't be able to get to my real job at the prison for a few days. Darn, what a shame that would be. Oh, well. I have plenty of grub/supplies to get me through.

Happy New Year!

 

[Jeepnik]

Hang in there. Prayers up.

So far down here in SoCal we’ve avoided most of those issues. Burn scars have folks heading out in some spots.

 

[WendyZXZ]

Prayers from Texas for those having to endure such.

 

[Cholo]

That's terrible! I hope it gets squared away soon!

 

[hittman]

I feel your pain and sympathize with what you’re going though!
Have lived on the banks on the Mississippi River my whole life!

Keep the faith!

 

[NC FNS]

Glad you’re getting the snow in the mountains. I understand the snowpack has been lacking for a few years. Hope the rain isn’t too terrible Wednesday.

 

[turd]

If our snow keeps up, we are going to be in for some serious flooding in the spring. I really hope yours calms down soon.

 

[contender]

As the saying goes; "Keep your powder dry!"
:D :D

Seriously, I hope you are ok in all this.

 

[Goldstar225]

I hate to hear that you are suffering from excessive rain. I have a question, is the drainage pattern from the rain going to flow so it refills reservoirs and lakes or will it just flow to the ocean?

 

[wolfsong]

Got some work done in preparation for tonight's storm. Hope the little heifers appreciate it. Expecting 3 to 4 inches of rain tonight through dawn along with 40 mph winds and gusts up to 80. State of Emergency declared by the Governor. Yee hah! Praying that a few of the old and dying eucalyptus trees near the house make it through... Life is full of adventures!

The major flooding is on the other side of the treeline in the background where Mariposa Creek borders the ranch.

 

[contender]

Good luck my friend.

 

[wolfsong]

The road going into the backside of the ranch. The houses, barns, feedlots are just on the other side of the tree line on the background. So far, the flooding has not breached that section yet. Still have a lot of rain in the forecast through the weekend. Keeping the fingers crossed...

 

[hittman]

Keep the faith!

 

[wolfsong]

Keep the faith!

Always!

At least it's only a creek/slough or two that have crested and not a large river. It's messy, and a lot of wet and dirty work to keep on top of things but it could be a hell of a lot worse. The flooded areas probably aren't more than a couple of feet deep in most places. A bonus to this is all the ducks and geese that are flocking around. Too bad I'm not into waterfowling, but a couple of buddies are thinking about trying their luck.

This is Mariposa Creek, the culprit that floods most every year.

 

[wolfsong]

Lost power about 15 minutes ago at 1755 hours. Lots of wind and raining pretty hard. Hallelujah! Power just came back on as I'm typing this. I think it's going to be a long night. Power company just sent an alert advising to expect more outages for an undetermined period of time.Yee haw!

 

[Colonialgirl]

Lost power about 15 minutes ago at 1755 hours. Lots of wind and raining pretty hard. Hallelujah! Power just came back on as I'm typing this. I think it's going to be a long night. Power company just sent an alert advising to expect more outages for an undetermined period of time.Yee haw!

I HOPE they are channeling a most of that rainfall into the ALMOST DRY reservoirs and NOT draining it down the rivers to keep NON-NATIVE fish alive.

 

[sfhogman]

Hang in, Wolfie...you've been in my thoughts lately...
Jeff

 

[jyo]

Here in L.A., we're getting steady rain, but in smaller doses---keeping the flooding down to mostly the Valley areas where they never bothered to build storm drains! Flat land and no storm drains equals standing water every time it rains...
Hoping for a good outcome for you wolfsong!

 

[Wyandot Jim]

Hang in there Wolfie. I do hope everything works out for you.
I do know what it is like to have a lot of rain. Luckily we didn't get any high winds but 40" of rain.
Here is what we went thru with Harvey 5 years ago.

The National Hurricane Center has released its final storm summary on rainfall and winds associated with Hurricane Harvey. Cedar Bayou, Texas recorded 51.88 inches of rain from Harvey, breaking the continental U.S. record for rainfall from a single storm. Port Aransas, Texas recorded the highest peak wind gusts, at 132 mph.

Parts of Houston recorded more than 44 inches of rain from Harvey, and Beaumont-Port Arthur saw 47.35 inches.

 

[wolfsong]

Hang in there Wolfie. I do hope everything works out for you.
I do know what it is like to have a lot of rain. Luckily we didn't get any high winds but 40" of rain.
Here is what we went thru with Harvey 5 years ago.

The National Hurricane Center has released its final storm summary on rainfall and winds associated with Hurricane Harvey. Cedar Bayou, Texas recorded 51.88 inches of rain from Harvey, breaking the continental U.S. record for rainfall from a single storm. Port Aransas, Texas recorded the highest peak wind gusts, at 132 mph.

Parts of Houston recorded more than 44 inches of rain from Harvey, and Beaumont-Port Arthur saw 47.35 inches.

View attachment 14204

^^^^ THAT'S CRAZY!!!!!!

 

[wolfsong]

Thanks for the thoughts and concern, folks. I appreciate it. This situation is more aggravating and inconvenient than it is dangerous. As long as the flooding is isolated to fields and pastures it shouldn't cause too much harm or cost. The cattle seem to be unfazed, and no structures are threatened yet. We're fortunate that, so far, the weather hasn't hurt us here. This weekend is supposed to bring more wet stuff through Monday or Tuesday so there's potential for more flooding. We'll just have to wait and see.

We've managed to keep up with the weather so far. It's been kind of fun, if you know what I mean. Nature, machines, country engineering on the fly, challenges, failures, victories, some laughs and a fair amount of cussing has made for an interesting week. There's something about the satisfaction of succeeding when facing a challenge that tends to rejuvenate and invigorate being alive. Just another one of life's adventures!

Peace and God bless.

 

[sfhogman]

If only I had had my roof replaced last August as intended...sigh.

 

[redhawker]

Well, here's my take on the recent rain in Commiefornia. Sorry if you had any damage. Goes back to more mismanagement by those in charge (democrats). I'm sure if they'd have acted on the following you might not have had any, or as much damage. I heard on the radio that in 2014 something like 17 BILLION dollars was set aside in Commiefornia to build water storage reservoirs. Down in So Cal, where I currently live (but hopefully not for long), we didn't get that much rain out of the recent storms but I understand up north got hammered. So, I'll bet they're filling up all those new reservoirs with all that runoff as we speak...right? What's that? There aren't any new reservoirs? WHY? They had the money. They had 8+ years. In this state which Gov. Moonbeam declared at one time is in "perpetual drought" you would think building water storage would be a priority. Do you know when the last water storage reservoir in Commiefornia was built? 1999, Diamond Valley Lake in Riverside County, 23 years ago. So, now, instead of saving much of the water that has just soaked the northern part of the state about 80% of it will run out to sea. But be sure you follow all their rules and conserve...right? In the meantime does anybody know where that money went?

 

[Jeepnik]

Bullet train.

 

[turd]

Stay safe Wolfsong, sounds like there is a LOT more to come this week.

 

[wolfsong]

Rough night last night. Lost the aerial antenna and part of the roof during the storm last night. The wind was ferocious. More rain and wind moving in later tonight/Monday morning. Forecast is lots of rain for the entire day tomorrow. Crazy.

 

[sfhogman]

It's been like that all up and down the coast. My chimney cap blew off the night before last...no idea where it went.

 

[turd]

Hope things get better for you all in Cali........

 

[dobegrant.45]

Hang in there, hoping for a little break for you

 

[Cholo]

Good grief you've had enough, Jeff. I hope you can catch a break and it eases your drought. It would have been nice to spread it around a little, though.