By Craig Murphy, Vidette Reporter, 12/23/1999, The Montesano Vidette
Heavy rain led to heavy flooding last week in Grays Harbor County.
Much of the rain came down last Wednesday, Dec. 15. The Quinault area was particularly hard hit, getting nearly seven inches that day. Roads throughout the county were flooded by Wednesday evening and Thursday morning, but most of them were reopened by early this week. The Wynooche, Satsop and Chehalis Rivers each flooded some land and roads.
Karin Frinell-Hanrahan, deputy director of Emergency Management for the county, said she "did not hear of any major damage in cities, but some roads will have to be looked at." She said damage to a bridge on the Moclips Highway in the Quinault area means that road will be closed until spring. Even though roads from Oakville to Montesano were closed at one point or another last week, Frinell-Hanrahan said they are not staying closed. She said the Satsop and Wynooche Rivers caused the most damage, with the Red Cross helping 45 people from those areas. "We had incredible amounts of rain everywhere," she said. "Basically, everything with a river around it was flooded."
Kurt Lubbe, owner of Lubbe Farms in Brady, said it hadn't appeared there was enough rain to cause so much flooding. 'I was surprised," he said. "In talking with everyone, we didn't think it would be that bad."
Lubbe said he builds his driveway higher after each flood, but it still floods. Among other things, mud is left behind, and the water ferments in the soil. "Right behind the barn, it is eating away the topsoil," he said. "I'm really tired of it. It's getting old."
Lubbe said his property has flooded three times since 1994. "Every time there is high water, hunks of land are gone," he said. "It's getting worse. It shouldn't flood like it does,"
At Lubbe's farm Monday was Frank Drolz, a Grays Harbor City resident who has property on the Humptulips River. Drolz said he lost some of his property and was "really surprised" by the flooding. "Me water's the highest I've seen it in 40 years," he said. "It was unreal - worse than it was in '97. 1 expected some flooding, but nothing like this."
Drolz said a friend in the Quinault area set out a rain gauge last Thursday, and collected five inches of rain in three hours. He noted a road above Neilton had a foot of water on it, while another road in the area had two feet of water. Drolz said building dikes doesn't do much good, since the water goes under them. "The water goes wherever it wants to," he said.
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