On February 14th, 2019, 4.6 inches of rain fell in Lake Riverside Estates in less than 24 hours. I was able to watch the storm on security cameras as it progressed. It ended up causing some serious damage to the drive and our hillside. It also took out a large cottonwood tree. This post chronicles the events of that day and our cleanup almost a month later.

Up through noon on Valentine’s Day, things seemed under control. There was some mudflow but the brow ditch on the hill between the upper and lower drives seemed to be holding up OK. There was some flow from the upper part of the ditch which indicated a weakness, likely caused by a squirrel burrow. This picture was taken at 12:44pm. As of 12:30, almost 3.5 inches of rain had fallen — most of the total for the storm.

This picture shows the upper driveway at 11am. There is a lot of water coming down from the lot above the house, but at this point the brow ditch, seen in the middle of the frame, is handling the water flow well. Note the large tree in the middle of the frame. As in the previous picture, there is some errant flow down the hill at the upper end of the brow ditch.

Shortly after noon, the storm got much worse. The wind came up with a gust of 34 miles per hour. The rain rate topped 1.1 inches/hour. The flow of water from the lot uphill and to the west from us became overwhelming. Water flows down Lakeshore Boulevard and onto Osage Court. In this storm, the bulk of the water flowed across Osage Court, into the lot above us, and down onto our driveway. This next picture is at 1:47pm. Note that the tree behind the basketball hoop is gone and the hillside has been breached with a major mud flow coming down across the driveway.

This picture was taken at 3:50 pm. Most of the rain had fallen with only .3 inches more to go in the storm at this point. The tree is clearly down. There is still substantial flow of water from up the hill.

The damage is clear in this picture of the lower drive taken at 5:40pm.

The day after.

The Aftermath

There was extensive damage all over the area. A man died when he tried to cross the creek on Wilson Valley Road and was swept away by the water. The water crossing Lakeshore Boulevard was several feet deep at the peak of the run-off. Many people were isolated in their home for several days. We did not make it out to the house until March 9th. At least we knew what to expect.

This is the upper driveway. Much mud and water came down across the drive and down the hill. (Click on any picture to open a full-sized version.)

Here is our own personal “Grand Canyon” carved in the hillside.

At its deepest, the eroded area is at least six feet deep.

The area in front of the garage and parking area is covered. Thankfully no water or mud got into the garage or the house. For that we are thankful.

The parking area was covered in thick, sticky mud.

Then there is the tree. Here it is as it landed. We were really quite lucky. The tree had been sick for a while, attacked by bark beetles. It had several major dead branches but was not completely dead. With the way it leaned and how it sat on the hill, I did not think I could fell it safely without it landing on other trees or shrubs. During the storm, the wind blew from exactly the right direction to drop the tree in a place where it did no damage.

The tree snapped where it had been weakened by rot.

With the inspection over, we needed to start the cleanup. First order of business was to start shoveling mud. I believe we moved over a ton of mud with shovels and two wheelbarrows among three people. This is the mud pile behind the garage.

Looking down from the upper drive, you can see the area we cleared. In the foreground is another squirrel hole that had begun to leak water. Had the rain continued, I expect that this place would have broken through too.

With the help of a friend who came out for the day (thanks!), we sawed and stacked the old cottonwood. Note the large hole in one of the logs, roughly in center-left of the frame. There was a large hole, mostly full of water, that had decayed in the tree. Perhaps at some time it was a home for birds or other animals.

And now the picture that Facebook will pick up.