Feast or Famine

When it comes to rainfall, the past several years have been a famine…up until this spring.  Here is what our stock tanks looked like last October when we returned from our summer trip.

Some fall and winter rains put a few feet of water in them, but it wasn’t until February 20 when we returned from the Junction Sheep Dog Trial that we saw our tanks completely full for the first time in three years.  The spring rain ushered in what has been a banner year for wildflowers, and more grass than we have seen in many years.  The place has been a feast for the eyes.

But then came May.  Last Saturday night, May 4, the weather-guessers predicted thunder storms and a couple of inches of additional rain.  As the storm approached, we gave the dogs calming treats and put Rue and Cody in their thunder shirts.  It wasn’t a moment too soon!  The images on weather radar continued to grow, not just the green signifying rain, but large blobs of orange and red, indicating really severe weather.  Around 10 the skies opened and rain came down in torrents.  The deluge continued for several hours, accompanied by blinding flashes of lightening as the bolts struck the ground…some only 400-600 feet from the house according to the lightening tracker app on John’s phone.  The thunder literally shook the house, along with strong winds (but fortunately we had no tornado activity).

On Sunday morning, we knew a lot of rain had fallen, but we had no idea how much of a “feast” we had received.  Our rain gauge only holds 6 inches, and it was full.  So were Rue’s dog swimming pool and an empty mineral tub in the sheep pen.  Those hold at least 12 inches, and we have never had that much rain in such a short time in all the years the farm has been in our family.  Then we began receiving reports from neighbors and local authorities that a number of roads were impassable due to high water or wash-outs.  Church was canceled because the Pastor Brian (and a number of others) couldn’t get to Clifton. 

As soon as it was light, John and I put the Kawasaki mule in four-wheel drive and, accompanied by the dogs, began a tour of the property.  Here are some of the photos I took on Sunday morning.  

Our upper stock tank had not only gone around the spillway, the water had actually gone over the dam, which you can see in the photo below.  John had to move aside this large log that had washed up so we could cross the dam.

The neighbor's stock tank to the west is still going around the spillway and dumping water into ours.

The rowboat and kayak that were stored alongside the upper tank had floated off their two-foot stand.  The “SS Wahlberg” had floated to the end of her tether, and the kayak has yet to be found.

Two metal garbage cans that held life jackets and a tackle box were gone.  We spotted one of them caught in some brush between the upper and lower tanks.  Allan retrieved it, shiny from its journey and with only a few dents.

Life jackets and the tackle box were snagged in trees.

And a third was marooned on top of the lower tank dam. 

 

Since the rain fell during the late night and early hours of the morning, much of the water had gone down by the time it was light enough to see.  Everywhere, however, was evidence of how high and wide the water had been.  Below is the east side of the upper tank dam with the debris line almost over the road.

The grass between the upper and lower stock tanks was flattened by water that had been in places over 50 yards wide on either side of the creek.  

We are fortunate that we had less damage than a lot of our neighbors.  Our fences and water gaps were mostly in place.  We only needed to replace a t-post between our place and the neighbor to the north and east.  

Our neighbor to the south will repair the one between his pasture and ours.  

The main problem for us was the road.  The caliche road up to the house has washed quite a bit, and John will have to move some dirt to smooth out the bumps.  However, County Road 313 that provides access to our farm was a disaster!  

Not only had it eroded significantly in a number of places, it seemed that half the hill to the west of our gate was piled in front of it.

  

I will give high marks to Precinct 2 County Commissioner Keith Curry.  We left a message about the damage for his office on Sunday morning, and a road grader was hard at work by mid-morning on Monday to make it passable.  We had to have someone dig out our culvert, but we’re now ready for the next storm.  Fortunately, the water continued down the road and Allan's culvert remained open.

Water coming from the small tributary that crosses the county road just north of our property line, combined with that flowing down the hill, caused very high water that washed a lot of road base into our pasture.  You can see the debris line on our fence; we estimate that the water was 3-4 feet deep near the stream.

Our hearts go out to those whose homes flooded, whose fences are down, and especially to the family of Joe West.  He was swept away by the waters of Meridian Creek after getting his wife, Ann to safety when their home flooded.  

We have prayed long and hard for rain over the past three years, and we are grateful that our tanks are now full and the groundwater replenished.  We just had no idea it would all come at once and hope it doesn't do so again.