Let it Rain! Let it Rain! Let it Rain?

For the past week straight, it has been raining non-stop which is highly unusual for St. George's desert climate. I haven't really minded though because I like the rain but the people that live along the Virgin River, Santa Clara River, Gunlock, Rockville and Enterprise have really minded because they have been flooded out. The rivers have risen so much that they have threaten houses, bridges, and dams. The Gunlock and Enterprise reservoirs are completely full now and even overflowing which will be good for the dry summer months ahead. Also the Santa Clara river has taken out a bridge and the Virgin River is like raging rapids. It took out a golf cart bridge and carried it down stream and ran into the brand new Green Valley bridge threatening to ruin it as well. The Sunbrook golf course was completely underwater as well as some farms below Stone Cliff. (see picture below). The biggest threat however was the chance of the Tree Ranch Dam near Rockville breaking. As a precaution, officials evacuated the little town of Rockville because they noticed leaks in the dam and they worried that when and if the dam breaks, the force of water would take out the entire town. Russell worked in Springdale on Wednesday Dec 22 night and he and the other paramedics were on high alert all night just in case the dam did break during the night. Luckily though, the dam held up against the high waters and the town was safe and Russell was able to come home instead of being stranded up in Springdale until the waters receded. Below are a few pictures of the raging Virgin River and some of the flood damage:

First is the farms below Stone Cliff that were underwater. You may need to blow up the picture to see the detail.

This is the Virgin River in Bloomington. Notice the great erosion of the banks.

Next is the Virgin River raging under the Man O' War bridge in Bloomington. The water was only a few feet from the top of the bridge.

These last two pictures were taken from the top of the Man O' War bridge. It was kind of creepy walking on this bridge knowing that the raging water was only a few feet away. You can't really tell from the pictures because the motion setting on my camera kind of smoothed the surface of the water as it moved but the river was really raging with huge waves and whitecaps. I had never seen it like that before. It was pretty cool but kind of scary at the same time especially while Emily and I were walking on the bridge.

The flood was pretty intense and official had press conferences every few hours to give us updates on the status of the rivers and the water. Luckily though, we learned from the massive flooding events in 2005 and took the necessary precautions of securing the banks of the rivers and other things because no houses were lost in the St. George area and not as much damage was done this time. There were a few houses lost in Beaver Dam, AZ and I'm not sure about Gunlock or Enterprise but homes were safe in St. George. I guess it is true about the saying "When it rains it pours" but we definitely need the rain and hopefully our summer will not be as dry this year because of it.