Sylvan Creek Overflow

 Azars maples mark the area where her home stood not more than two years ago. This area is "returning to nature" as rapidly as you could hope for and here the kind of flooding that takes place during heavy rain events is exactly what is needed in order to get it healthy. But just a hundred yards upstream stands a house or two that may be in long-term jeopardy. 

The recent rains finally got Sylvan Creek out of its banks last weekend. The overflow was short lived, as it almost always is when this creek "flashes." I happened on it just after the heaviest rains on Sunday (the 6th of June) had subsided and the creek was already beginning to go down. Less than an hour later the stream was well back into its banks - at least in this particular area - and still dropping rapidly. A better visual example of "flashy" I have not yet seen.

After

Across the street sits sits this house. When I stopped by earlier in the morning the water filled the lower section of the driveway up to the lighter colored area immediately below the front stoop. 

Another "after" shot. The street in the foreground never went under water.

 To give a somewhat better idea of how precarious this situation is for the homeowner, here's a back view of the residence, taken from a few yards north of where Azar's home used to stand.

 The stream has actually dropped a few inches in this view of the residence. The other photos in this spread were taken just on the other side of the bushes on the right. The old Azar place is just a few yards to the left of this view.This kind of event draws people out of their homes. While we were chatting about the build up of sediment and the resultant increase in flood levels over the years, someone asked, "How do you stop this kind of thing?" I'm not a hydrologist, a scientist or any other qualified expert on the subject, but I think the simple answer is that you can't. It's kind of like the Water Cycle, this endless movement of the dirt from the highlands to the low via the actions of stormwater runoff. Straightening the stream and lining its banks with highly resistant materials (as was done on the property shown at the beginning of this post) is one way to move the materials rapidly through part of the system. Such straightening merely defers the issue, however, because the sediments are going to land somewhere sooner or later. In point of fact they are going to settle out of the stream flow where ever the energy in the system drops enough for them to settle out. Since that energy is mostly the result of relative changes in elevation it stands to reason that they are going to settle out most in this low and relatively flat area of the watershed. 

Removing the accumulation of sediments from this area is not an option, for a variety of sound economic and environmental reasons. Stopping the process isn't possible either, but it could be slowed down some if the upstream areas were more extensively restored. But upstream the land is still being developed and the stream core still being degraded. But that's for a later post. In the meantime the home owners most immediately threatened by this inexorable process have limited options, or so it seems to me. As one of the Watershed Folks I showed these photos put it, "Looks like a clear case of up or out to me. Get that baby onto a raised foundation or put it on the market while it is still mostly dry." I thought about Marlene's long ordeal and the rim of ruined sand bags that surrounded her home the first time I saw it. I mentioned these and he shook his head again, this time with a rye smile. "Yup, not a lot of options."