Waking up to the storm of a lifetime

||| BY EMILLIE NOVAK, theORCASONIAN REPORTER |||

Orcas Island was the unexpected beneficiary of 60 hours of heavy rain, a deluge of tons of storm rainwater that left islanders stunned with the catastrophic impact, and working to create new networks of support, physically and as a community.

Dan Carlberg, a rural US Postal carrier spoke about the difficulty of getting services to many on the island because of the changes in terrain. “There’s a brand new 70-foot waterfall on Raccoon Point”, he stated. Kathryn Marie, a resident on Key Drive, expressed her concern for her close neighbor. “Her driveway is like a river,” Marie said, “she can’t get to her chickens and she may need food. There is ground water under my house. It’s hard not to be afraid.”

Mike Frausdo, of Viking Excavation, working on Raccoon point, heaved mud and debris to redirect the water that made crossing the road nearly impossible. “There’s a two foot culvert that is completely blocked; that’s what caused the wash-out,” Frausdo stated. 

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The power of the unprecedented rainfall caused sudden torrents of run off, dug out cavernous beds of mud along roadways, carved deep galleys through driveways, and flooded culverts, as San Juan and Orcas utility companies, emergency crews and heavy equipment contractors scrambled to restore safe access all over the island. According to Wes Lemire, Construction Maintenance Supervisor of State Parks, “Mount Constitution is closed due to washouts, but the road is open up to Mountain Lake.” He cautioned “There is a lot more damage on trails we haven’t come across, but stream wash-outs are our priority; redirecting water to where it needs to be.”

River Augenstein, the General Manager of Doe Bay Resort gave a rundown of the events that led to the complete demolishment of the road that is now a dividing line between Doe Bay Resort and the 200 residents on the other side of the collapsed roadway. He stated that he was awakened by a call from a neighbor, driving toward Eastbound slid to a halt, barely avoiding the gaping crevasse that used be a road. According to Augenstein: “The culvert running under the road became overwhelmed by the onslaught of debris and was pushed out from under the road. Augenstein stressed to the continuous stream of curious people coming to look: “Please stay away for a while, that would help! Please send any communication to generalmanager@doebay.com.”

Scott Williams, the Fire Chief, stated “This is a good time for people to be sure their memberships with Airlift Northwest and Life Flight are current. People [who live] past the damage of the Doe Bay wash-out will have to be flown off if they have to go to the hospital.” Medics and EMTs are stationed on the other side of the damaged road. Williams stated: “Doe Bay is doing a great job of working on a temporary but good fix for the foot bridge that may allow car-pool services.” People would be able to park along the road, walk down through the resort and go over the footbridge to get rides into town.” Williams stated that he hoped this event could create a “wake-up” call that water drainage systems are monitored in the future.

Thomas Leonard, an Olga resident near Pickett Spring, managed to avert disaster by digging a trench around his house in time to save it, but not to keep mud from flowing into his blacksmith shop. Leonard stated, ”This could be the new norm, considering the ‘atmospheric river’ we may be going to see happen again.” Paul Culp of Deer Harbor exclaimed “It’s not even winter yet!”

Gary Renzelman of Buck Mountain Homeowner’s Association and his crew battled to restore stability to the caved-in culvert at the intersection of Hammond Lane and Buck Mountain Road. Renzelman stated “We upgrade this system periodically, but the amount of water from the storm is an act of Mother Nature that the culvert system is not prepared to carry.”

No one could have prepared Eddie and Lena Stearns and neighbor Michael Conner who woke up to the complete washout of their driveway. “There’s no stability about that bank,” Ed Stearns stated. He pointed to the new waterfall cascading forcefully down from the upper road that completely devastated access to their property — destroyed outbuildings, completely obliterated his pump-house, and threatened the safety of tenants in Stearn’s rental property. “There has been tremendous help from so many people,” he added,”it restores your faith.”