Effects of January Flood Event

Our projects survived the flood event over the last week in relatively good shape.   There was some damage but nothing catastrophic. This flood event was definitely less severe that the 2009 event.  Here are a few pictures of project sites in the County.


The fish screen installed in Dry Creek in November had some erosion of the backfill around it, but no damage to the actual structure.  



The Teanaway was very high as well.  This the downstream side of the Red Bridge Road bridge.  The pump station on the opposite bank is involved in a potential project this year.  Any additional downcutting at this site may not be visible until the flows recede.

This is the Ellensburg Water Company diversion on Currier Creek, which was a project from 2008.  The flows were high, but there appears to be no damage to the structure.

We were lucky at our two active construction sites.  The contractors were not working in either stream at the time the event.  At Cherry Creek, the flows were substantial as this site is below the confluence of Cooke Creek, Caribou Cree, Parke Creek and Johnson Drain.  Just a few days before the event, Cherry Creek was returned to the channel and the bypass channel was filled.  

This is looking upstream toward the Moe Road bridge on Friday January 14th.

This is the same basic angle on Cherry Creek on Sunday afternoon when the creek was continuing to rise.  There was some erosion along the banks but it was relatively minor.

 At Keach-Jensen on Manastash Creek, the contractor has been out of the creek for some time, but the bypass channel was still active up until last week.  That was due in part to the freezing temperatures and the fact that the creek and the bypass channel had ice in them.

This is the first real event for the new structure.  The water level was pretty high and there was quite a bit of ice in the creek during the first couple of days of the event.  This photo was taken on Tuesday.

 

This is looking upstream across the rock weirs that were built earlier in the fall.  This photo was taken just yesterday when the flows were still relatively high.

AL