Ed & Kay Bejarana

I have always loved the rain.  No doubt I am an odd Californian, even though I do not have web feet.  Two weeks ago we were knee deep in snow with outside temperatures in the high 20’s.  This week it is raining, hard, and the temperature is in the mid 50’s.  The power of Mother Nature is incredible, or she is a woman who can not make up her mind.

From time to time I find myself surfing information on Wikipedia.  This evening, while watching Lost in Translation with Kay, I looked up rain.  Rain is liquid precipitation or atmospheric condensation.  Not all rain makes it to the ground, some of the rain evaporates before it reaches the surface.

Ordinarily the rain in Oregon is a constant drizzle during the winter months, but this year we are getting large wind gusts mixed with rain drops the size of quarters.  I might be exaggerating on the rain drop size.  So far we have not had any problems with excessive rain where we live.  There is flooding in several locations around Portland, but Fairview, so far, is able to manage the rain.  I have not driven over to see the Sandy River, but so far it seems her banks are holding.

Yesterday I drove into Portland to meet with a new client to discuss a trade show display.  The Willamette River was very high, maybe 10′ above the usual water level, but the banks were holding.  The water was muddy the surface and choppy, like a big dirty kid was sloshing around in a gigantic tub.

On the way home from my meeting, I heard that parts of I5 were expected to flood in the Seattle area.  The report said one of the rivers was expecting waters 10 feet above flood stage.  Again the questions arise.  What exactly is flood stage:

Definition per someone from Wikipedia.

Flood stage means a man made feature is underwater. The term refers to the general condition in which a water level is high enough to cause flooding or water damage to man made elements near a body of water. It applies only to a highly localized point, and not to any standard reference point such as the height of a riverbank, and does not refer to the height above the normal level of a body of water.

The term often confuses the public because it is misunderstood and misused in number of ways. It is often confused with the term “flood gage” which measures the actual height of water above the normal non-flood high point of a body of water, which may not cause any damage or flooding to man made features.

I picture two news reporters standing on the banks of the river making bets on how deep there “flood” stick is now.  Of course there is probably electronic equipment that makes the calculation, but considering how often the news reporters are wrong my vision could be right.

I hope everyone is staying warm and dry!

Ed Bejarana
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