Saturday, January 21, 2012

The Rain was Raining all Around

We've had a lot of rain the past few days...

One of the signs?  Hundreds of Cackling Geese hanging out on soccer fields.

Here's a picture of our Big Creek - Before the storm on the left, after the storm on the right.

This is our Big Creek at its widest point as it flows to the edge of our property line.  It was easily three times wider, and who knows how much deeper, than before the storm.  We received 1.53" of rain on Tuesday, 2.42" on Wednesday, and 1.07" on Thursday. All my 'After' photos were taken Thursday afternoon.

This is a before (left) and after (right) of the Big Creek on our neighbor's property.

Another sign of copious quantities of rain?
This guy!  There were two Nutria in the quarry pond.
Nutria are an invasive species - originally from Brazil, they were imported to Louisana for their pelts.  They escaped to the Pacific NW (don't know how) where they are extremely happy.  They are very much like beavers except they have a big rat-like tail. 

Even little Dorothy's Creek was running at full throttle!

We were very fortunate in the Eugene/Springfield area to make it through the storm without any damage or loss of life.  The coastal community of Mapleton, OR is under several feet of water, and there were two deaths in Albany, OR as a car was washed into a creek. 

7 comments:

krayolakris said...

We have been watching reports of your weather. Amazing how an inch or two can make such a huge difference to the little creeks. Be careful!

Love your header, BTW.

Mindi said...

LOTS of rain! I know Oregon is known for being a "wet" state, but that's got be more than usual in such a short period.

The nutria looks cute, but I know invasive species can be very harmful to the native ecology.

Mouse said...

gosh that's a lot of rain .. and the weather can do all sorts of damage to human and wildlife too ... take care on your walks ...love mouse xxxx

Ann at Beadlework. said...

I love the geese, there's something about them that really appeals to me - I think it's the reason I'm drawn to the art work of P Buckley Moss.

Nicola said...

I had never heard of nutria before. I am going to google them now. Wishing you better weather for weekend.

ollie1976 said...

great pictures
-Jen

Unknown said...

Glad you made it through okay! That Big Creek sure is big. Stay safe! I never even heard of a nutria - learn something new everyday - mostly from you!