Above, a before and after photo of the impact of a good rain on Beatty Creek.
In the brief interval since my last post about Beatty Creek, a substantial amount of rain has fallen - enough to cause flooding in many of the low-lying areas around Olympia, and more than enough to turn the creek into a torrent. Wednesday-Thursday, in fact we set a record for rainfall for the period - almost four inches in a 48 hour period.
The watershed for Beatty Creek is not very flashy, meaning it doesn't operate like an on-off water valve the way badly degraded watersheds often do; but it rained a fair amount a day or two running up to Thursday's downpour, so the sponge was saturated well before the peak event. It is still raining from time to time today, but the great flush has passed and the water level is beginning to fall. In a day or two, any chum still waiting for a shot at its upstream breeding grounds should be able to make a run for it. However, IF any are still out there in Eld Inlet, I'll be surprised.