You have NO idea how badly I just wanted to stay there and ignore this upcoming flood.
It was so peaceful. Not a sound. There was nobody out fishing yesterday, the road was only open to use by quad or sled, there was no wind and tons of sunshine. The agent and I were standing there marveling at the peacefulness. He commented on how picture perfect it was. We would stand there and every so often a bit of snow would fall down from the trees for no apparent reason.
If you look very closely at the picture at just the right angle (on my monitor anyway) you can see a set of pawprints in the otherwise untouched snow in front of the quad. I think they have to be wolf. They were very large. The animal had been walking, no hurry by the look of the print. We have coyotes here but this print is quite a bit larger than the coyote leaves, otherwise very similar.
And yes, it was a good excuse. It was work and fun all put together. It was a nice stress free break!
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars
In 2006 when we had a flood similar to what is likely headed our way now, I had an opportunity to see if from the air when my boss's son rented a small plane. I sent one of these pics to Fake68 and he reminded me today I should post some of that here for those who don't know what it looks like!
Looking straight east towards our place. Our home is the red mark---
Looking northeast at our place---
View from the back side, looking almost straight west---
The town of Morris, looking southwest---
Looking at our place from the northwest. Our home is almost exactly in the middle of the pic---
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars
Wow. That sure gives one a sense of the seriousness of this! We'll all be watching the situation closely. Please let us know if there's anything you folks need.
Carl: Our thoughts and prayers are with you too., Just yell if you need help stacking sandbags or something and we'll be there ! Those pictures are gut wrenching. Man you are in the middle of this low spot for sure.
So far it's still looking ok. If the predictions are right, at worst it will look similar to the pics above, maybe slightly more water. That is livable. We've done it before. If we get a whack of rain or there are serious ice jams, that is when I get very nervous.
Public meeting tonight in town...........
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars
Water is not rising yet at our location but the river is only about 3 miles away and it's rising nicely! I expect to see actual change here starting likely Monday/Tuesday depending on the temperatures. (melting)
Well, the meeting was interesting.
A couple of days prior to the meeting, the Reeve of our municipality was at our dealership so I cornered him and started discussing evacuation with him. The higher ups in provincial government have the idea that as soon as we lose road access, we have to evacuate our property. I strongly oppose this for a number of reasons which I won't elaborate on in the interest of brevity (something I really suck at!) For the record, the Reeve happens to be my ally, not my foe in all this.
Anyway, I told him I had no plans to leave other than going to work (boating to my vehicle parked outside the flood zone on dry land) when I was comfortable leaving our home unguarded for a few hours at a time. I work 7 minutes from home under normal conditions.
When the water surrounds the hill that our home is built on, it eventually seeps very slowly through the dirt and into the weeping tile causing the sewer pump to run more frequently. As long as someone makes sure the pump is functioning as it should, our home is not endangered by the water. If it quits, our basement would fill with water.
The "experts" want us to evacuate and turn off the power when we leave..... Duh!
Anyway, I explained to the Reeve that I will be here with my boat, 20 horse outboard, 2 generators, land line, cell phone, wireless internet, a backup sump pump, solar power, enough food in the freezer to live for months, spare fuel for the boat and so on and so on. He actually used my example and went the next day to a meeting in Winnipeg with the EMO people. He explained that this will be the fourth time I have experienced this and the fourth time I will be staying! I was pretty impressed. At the public meeting out here he explained this to everyone, handed out a sheet detailing the minimum resources required to stay in our homes and said that as long as nobody does anything foolish they will be allowed to stay.
Apparently, until there would be a state of emergency declared in our area, the Reeve has authority over EMO, Army, RCMP, Water Resources (who were the ones who wanted to evacuate me in 1997) and everyone else. He has the final say, so he was told at his provincial meeting.
Enough of the politics! The situation appears to be this---
-We will likely lose our road access early next week for about 15-25 days.
-We will likely see the water rise rapidly for about 5-7 days, starting early next week, with it being about 4-5 feet deep on the natural elevation part of our yard (in 1997 that depth was about 8-9 feet)
-I will likely miss a good chunk of work for the time the road is under water.
-The Red Cross has already handed out forms to assist people in applying for compensation for evacuation expenses. I don't really see a lot of need for us personally in that area, but what an amazing operation! There are people who suffer great financial setbacks when they are hit by flooding.
-One thing I have not mentioned until now. I lived here all through the famous flood of the century as they called it, 1997. The first week or 10 days my neighbour (1/2 mile away) lived here with me (our families evacuated). Once his home was no longer threatened he moved back there and we each lived alone for the duration of the flood, about another 25 days. The fact that I was living alone on a 100 X 200 foot island was likely the worst part about the whole thing. It plays on a guys mind. That is the part I look forward to the least if my family moves out. They don't have to go but for convenience I may want them to.
-Our monetary losses should be minimal. One of the worst parts of this is the stress leading up to it, wondering how bad it will be. The other tough part is the mess of field straw and debris left behind to clean up after the water recedes.
Sorry this is so long. You caught me in one of my writing moods. Thanks for all your concern, every one of you. It has been very helpful to me knowing so many people have a genuine concern for our well being here.
I assure you, once it hits I will have plenty of updates for you (and plenty of spare time to do those updates, too!)
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars
Thanks for the update. I can hear your experience and confidence speaking quite loud and clear. So hopefully things will not be worse than what you predict and it sounds like you'd be able to handle it. Hang in there and hopefully soon we'll be talking about it in the past tense.
Wow, it's just like preparing for war but it sounds like you are prepared for anything. I would agree, the toughest part would be being alone for that period of time, islolated but at least you will have lots of electronic communication ability.
How do most employers handle this situation? Do people like yourself in effect get a leave of absence without pay?
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Hillar
1970 LS4 (eventually an LS5) Laurentian 2dr hdtp -and a bunch of other muscle cars...
That's the toughest part Hillar. Yes, I will likely miss some work and I punch a clock so it will be a bit of a hit. Fortunately, my parents taught me well (save up for the "rainy days").
We won't starve because of it. Just have to readjust our lifestyle for a while. More time at the cabin instead of traveling vacations this summer!
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars
Carl, Those pictures are just unreal. Your home is literaly on an island. Just praying for the best for you and the family and getting through this ordeal.
The new evacuation rules as of this year state that under 13, over 70 have to move out of the flood zone. That would leave me home with my wife and our son and make our daughter leave.
Grandma is only 6 miles from us, a few blocks from where I work, so it is simple enough for us to work out.
If our son stays home from school they tell me he can get his assignments online daily.
As far as technology goes, we have never been so well prepared as this time. (Cell phone, wireless internet, solar power)
Two things I should mention---
-For those of you who saw I have two generators (1 loaned to me by someone off this board, thanks again Vern ,) I do that so I have a backup for the backup! The more fortified we are, the less chance of being made to leave!
-I'm sure you are all thinking, why would anyone want to live there? Why not move???!!! I am the type who has deep roots. It's where I grew up. Except for the occasional flood "hiccup", it's the best place in the world to live. You can see the forest we have, and the proximity to neighbours (1/2 mile away). I love it, all year round. Every place has to have a flaw and this is our's!
-- Edited by Carl Stevenson on Saturday 4th of April 2009 11:09:06 AM
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars
Although to most people it would appear as nothing, the game has begun! Our little creek that runs through the back yard was all ice and snow until today. Now we have some water at the edges. My wife said it was starting to back up from the Red River (it's a tributary of the Red) and I thought we would only see it in a couple more days. Went and checked the culvert at the neighbour's road and she's right, the water is moving the wrong way!
I did just get little bit of good news. There is a daily Manitoba flood forecast that is published online. The April 4th edition just came out and the prediction for us here is half a foot less than was previously called for. Not much, but it all counts.
-- Edited by Carl Stevenson on Saturday 4th of April 2009 05:12:18 PM
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars
