Photos & Descriptions | USGS River Height Summaries | Flood Timeline | Flood Driving |

Jan 9. Trucks with 4WD or high wheel-base can go through. They can see the yellow line under water. Photo by webmaster

Jan 9. This flooded field west of Samish Island Road is completely under water at 2:30 p.m. Photo by webmaster.

Jan 10. Road Closed signs appeared, around 7:00 a.m. Photo by webmaster.

Jan 10. An county vehicle puts up more Road Closed signs. Photo by webmaster.

Jan 10. Islanders and Pets meet on the road, while surveying the flood. Photo by webmaster.

Jan 10. The Ratfields ferry Meris Lehecka's Honda across the waterway so that she could make the drive to Gonzaga University. Photo by Julie Rousseau.

A good way to get around. Photo by Julie Rousseau.

Yesterday's Speed Limit. Photo by Julie Rousseau.

Jan 11. Samish Island Road, mid-afternoon Saturday. (Where are the navigation lights when you need them?). Photo by Therese Ogle.

Jan 11. Driving Toward Samish Island. Photo by Dick Nevitt

Jan 11. Stranded voles. Photo by Doug Hopley

Jan 12. A pilot's photo of Samish Island and the diked delta land going to the island, during the flood of 2009.
Photo by Mike Schmidt

Jan 12. Barn, with boat. Photo by Doug Hopley

Click on map to see the entire Samish River Basin.

USGS River Height Data, January 6 to January 16

Jan 13 - This USGS chart gives an accurate picture of the progression of the flood waters affecting
the Lower Samish River Basin and Samish Island, between January 6 and January 13, 2009.
From USGS Real Time Water Data.

Jan 16 - River levels after flooding subsides, returning to the 7-foot level.

Samish River Gage Heights Summary, Jan 6-16, 2009:

Tuesday, January 6 - Photo above by Dick Nevitt, shows the Samish River from the Chuckanut Bridge, beginning its rise, probably around the 8-9 foot level.

Wednesday, January 7 - River gage height was 14 feet -highest flood marker during the late night of January 7.

Thursday, January 8 - River gage height was 13-feet. Around Samish Island, the flooding began being noticed January 8, with the flooding of road and farm fields east and west of the Bayview Edison Road, just south of the T-junction. Bayview Edison Road was closed at 6 p.m.

Friday, January 9 - River gage height was 11 feet. Samish Island Road east of the T- Junction began flooding over the roadway from the field south of the road. By 1 p.m. the flood had spread west to the West 90 curve and onto the road by Ploegs (logging truck house). Reports of a breach in the dike circulate. By evening the road was dangerous and many people did not know they were driving into flood waters on their way home. Water was 5-6 inches deep on the road, with lower spots reported at 10" deep. One truck was swept by floodwaters into the west ditch between the island and the first gray house. It completely submerged within a minute. The driver escapes, unharmed but cold and shaken.

Saturday, January 10 - Road Closed signs appear on the island in the early morning. River gage height is 10 feet, dropping to 9 feet, then back up to 10 feet when the heavy rains come in the afternoon. Samish Island Road is almost completely covered, from 500 feet from the island and south. Daylight reveals a dismal scene. Many people in high-wheel base trucks can drive through, but very slowly, about 4 mph. Islanders use the own communications link via Group email and the Samish Island Web page to share stories and information. Someone puts small stakes with red flags to measure the closest point of flood to the island.

Sunday, January 11 - River drops to 9.5 feet or so. The grasses begin appearing in the fields west of the main road again.

Monday, January 12 - River level drops to 9 feet. Road Closed signs are removed, but it is still difficult to drive small cars. Many islanders continue to stay on the island. Water across roadway drops to 2-4" but it is still not comfortable driving.

Tuesday, January 13 - River level is 8.5 feet and dropping . The Bayview Edison Road, which was the first to close, is still closed today. All other roads in the lower Samish Basin are clear, with some encroachment on the lower part of the banked curves. We can say the flood is over, but there is lots of messiness at the edges that will take awhile to clean up.

Wednesday, January 14 - River Level is 8 feet, and continuing to drop. Bayview Edison Road is open again today. Allen West just east of Farm to Market is closed for maintenance.

Thursday-Friday, January 15-16 - River level is back down in the 7-foot level. All roads are again passable.

«Top

Flood Driving Etiquette?

There were some good ideas from the island e-mail group on January 11, 2009. The group email was very useful to the community during this flood.

Rule of Thumb 1: Make sure your tailpipe can clear the water. The water is about 12"-14" deep or more in some places, so you should measure your tailpipe height from the ground to clear that.

Rule of Thumb 2: If you can actually see a vehicle already in the water coming in your direction it would be best to wait until it has crossed the water completely. This way everyone can stay in the center of the road on the yellow line to be safe. You never know if the sides of the road have eroded or not and it could be dangerous to venture too far from the center. Also, everyone should be driving with their lights on to be more visible from the "other side". We are all sort of figuring this out as we go.

Peer Ahead: to see if someone has already started through from the other direction. It reminded me of the time in England I was driving a 70-foot barge through narrow canalways and over one-lane aquaducts and bridges -- I couldn't believe how well it worked, but one boat at a time went through, simply by peering ahead and seeing if someone had already started heading towards them from the other direction...

Use Very Slow Speeds: and careful distancing from the centerline to allow for temporary traffic in both directions.

Be kind. Don't yell out your window at someone who doesn't know "the etiquette" (none of us did until just now), or is unskillful. We may be able to practice our flood etiquette in another 12-18 years (last flood was in 1990-91), but its been a good discussion. Thanks to all for your interesting posts.