Tuesday, September 29, 2009

The Flood of 2009

The Stats:
The numbers are in, and for the eight-day period beginning Monday, September 14 and ending Tuesday, September 22, our area recorded in excess of 18 inches of rain. Most of the week had been intermittent showers. When it did shower, the rain fell gently to moderately. The creek had been running about 4" deep before the rains began. By Saturday afternoon it had risen another 3 feet, but was still a full foot below the bank. We had very steady rains from mid-night Saturday through noon on Sunday, and when I checked on Sunday afternoon, the creek had flooded into the usual low areas that get washed out a few days every year. Sunday night was stormy and thundery all night long. By mid-morning on Monday the 21, we had over 18 feet of water in the woods.

The Story:
We have a fairly long trail through our 7-acre woods. It dips and rises and dips again before reaching the creek. After a week of rain, over three-fourths of it was under water. Not only did we have beeches in the glen, we had beaches. This, of course, is far too tempting for young men with a sense of adventure. 'Time to grab the inner tubes and go for a swim!

A flooded wood is not a pond, no matter how much it may look like one. At the bottom of a pond you might find worms, some insect larvae, maybe a mussel, and a lot of mud. The worms like to stay in the mud. At the bottom of a flooded wood, you will find flooded ant hills. The ants do not like to say in a flooded ant mound. So they don't. The ants will swim for their lives!

It turns out that if an ant finds someone swimming through the forest, their little ant brains think, "Oh whee! A resting place!" If an ant does it, I'm not sure if it is still called a beeline. I suppose it would more accurately be an antline. But anyway, that is what they make toward people who take adventuresome swims through the woods.

You may need that information someday. Now you are prepared.

Saturday, September 12, 2009