CIMG0391
Originally uploaded by dieselboi

Not really, but…. The photo to the left was taken mere hours before I5 was closed due to flooding in Chehalis on Wednesday, about 135 miles north of Portland. This is the second year in a row that I5 has been closed at this spot, creating a mess on the interstate that connects Canada, the USA and Mexico. This is huge people.

I have been traveling I5 to Chehalis and points beyond now for the better part of 11 years visiting in-laws and extended family. Many live in this area and while they do remember some flooding, they have no memory of it closing I5. I remember always commenting on the huge fields flanking I5 around this area being covered in water during the rainy season (which up there seems to be 365 days a year, but I digress…) Yet there was never flooding over I5 or of the rivers nearby until, interestingly enough, a huge Walmart/Home Depot complex was built. Hmmm. What are the odds that a huge development with pavement parking lots has anything to do with the recent flooding? I would say high probability. In an area that gets a huge amount of liquid sunshine, it has to go somewhere. When you pave over that “somewhere,” the liquid will find other places to go, like the freeway.

I can only assume that they did all the necessary environmental assessments and such because this is the NW. I just wonder if they took into account the 100yr and 101yr flood history. Also, I wonder if they were looking at the immediate gain of having such big box stores and not thinking of the millions that are currently being lost due to I5 being shut down for 5 days. Sad to see the mess these storms are wreaking and the personal cost in this down economy, but sometimes we should sit back and ask ourselves why this is happening more now when it didn’t in the past?

Thanks Walmart. Thanks Home Depot. Thanks Toyota dealership.

A few more photos.

Related Posts

• February 11, 2009 -- Ibiza – closed (4)
• January 24, 2009 -- “The process of remaking America” Starts at Home (0)
• January 2, 2009 -- Photos of Flooding in Oregon City (4)
• January 2, 2009 -- A River Runs Through It (2)
• December 24, 2008 -- TriMet MAX Yellow line down for 3+ days (14)