Some of you know that in the summer of 2006 my daughter and son-in-law moved from Maryland to Washington state. They owned a dairy in Maryland and are buying a dairy in Washington. As you know if you have access to news that the northwest has had a lot of rain and wind, so much rain that the rivers have a tendency to overflow their banks. Such was the case at the "South Bank Dairy" that they are buying. They live off of hwy 12 near I-5, close to Centralia, WA. We called her last night around 8 PM and again at midnight and again this morning.
They live on an 80 acre farm of which most of is bottom land next to the river (what river I don't know) and anyhow you can stand on a bank behind their barn and look over a 50 or 60 acre field to the river running on the back of their property.
As they were watching the water rise Monday they were looking across the field and someone wondered what would happen if the water came up so far as to cover the field and reach the barn, to which their 19 year old son answered, "It won't, there's not enough water in the whole world to bring it up that far." .............but it came up and into the barn.
(Be kind to the 19 year old)
Where they milk the cows it is such that the cows come in on each side and are on a walkway about 2 feet above the floor of the milk house, that way you don't have to stoop over to fasten the milkers on the cows. There was 6 inches of water on the floor of the milk house, but thankfully it never reached the cows.
The electricity went off about 2 AM Monday, and according to reports they may not get it back for a couple weeks. They have 2 generators. They have extra freezers and refrigerators in the barn so they are able to keep their food from spoiling.
The water was still coming up about an inch a minute last night the first time we called, but by midnight the water had stopped rising and in a couple hours it started to go down. They were very thankful to say the least. At one point they drove the pickup back to the bank and in their headlights they could see bales of hay and other debris going down the river.
Some of their neighbors were not so fortunate. The one neighbor lost 200 cows as the water came up too high to save the animals.........another neighbor was marooned in his house........another talked about watching the river as sheep, cows and hay along with other debris wash down the river.
If you think about it, please pray for my daughter, her family and other families that are in the water's way.
I THANK GOD FOR HIS PROTECTION ON MY DAUGHTERS FAMILY DURING THIS TIME. I SOMETIME STAND IN AWE AND WONDER...HE HAS BLESSED US SO MUCH AS TIME AFTER TIME HE PROTECTS US ON THE ROAD AND THROUGH THE STRORMS OF LIFE BOTH FROM NATURE AND TRIALS.
Comments (4)
It is my sincerest pleasure to pray for your daughter and her family. The weather in the Northwest can be so disasterous...I think back to the destruction to the Tillamook county Dairy economy a few years back, here in Oregon, so I can imagine what may be going on in thier area. Where are they at?
I thought of your family when I heard about the heavy rains out your way. I'm glad they didn't lose any cows.
Amen to that last bit. God's staying hand over us is sometimes such a wonder to see. Praying for your daughter, her family, and neighbors today. ~Pam.
I've been wondering about Jakes--when the report came that the water was 10ft high across I-5 around Chehalis I thought about her immediately--praying the water goes down soon and all is well for them.
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