Overnight the snow drifted into Hope. So light were the flakes that one could barely feel them resting on a snow shovel. A delightful winter’s morning – a snow day called for the kids, digging out made light work by Mother Nature.
Then it hit.
The rain.
Temperatures soared.
Torrents fell bringing down the rotten rock at Herrling Island; the creek-side mud flow closed the highway between Chilliwack and Hope once again.
White water crashed down our mountainsides for three days, other streams held their banks… for the most part.
The Coquihalla river and Silver-Hope creek were put on flood watch…. the fire chief headed out hourly to take pictures of the rising rivers. Flows were strong enough that blocks away boulders could be heard rumbling down the bed of Silver-Hope Creek.
In Yale, with temperatures remaining low, three days of freezing rain took its toll. Power lines snapped. Douglas fir trees toppled. All other vegetation bowed to the power of Mother Nature. The town was draped in a crystal blanket.
Reported close calls were numerous including a massive fir that landed along the entire length of a lodge and two earthbound firs that landed on both sides of a Yale home. Somehow they escaped major damage.
Residents in Yale take their emergency planning seriously, three days without power and they barely missed a beat…
The rest of us perhaps need to heed the warning.
(Black Press)
