Recognizing the Warning Signs

Recently, we had an alignment of events that led to some flooding and evacuations in our small island city. Ketchikan Creek is a salmon spawning stream that runs right through the middle of town. Incredibly heavy rains (over 10 inches in 2 days) coupled with a particularly warm winter and a ‘plus’ tide of 19 feet was the perfect combination to swell the banks, causing them to begin spilling over onto road ways. A large tree was swept downriver and slammed into a bridge that furthered the flooding along perfectly.

Basements filled and cars were moved around by the sheer force of all that water. A shelter was set up at the local recreation center and people were asked to voluntarily evacuate. Downtown was effectively cut off for several hours while crews worked to remove the tree against the bridge. I am certain there was more than one person holding their breath, just waiting for the tide to go back out in the hopes that the water levels would go down far enough so they could reach their homes.

The city of Ketchikan has about 8,900 residents, with the island around 13-14,000 souls total. You pretty much know everyone or have at least seen their face several times when around town. You can imagine that the news spreads faster than the plague and it wasn’t long before pictures were being posted all over Facebook. There was a flash flood warning issued and people, of course, flocked to see it all. I admit I went down to the creek myself so I could get the pictures included in this article – all the while chiding myself for the foolishness of my actions. One of the greatest killers, in my humble opinion, of people in disaster situations is curiosity. People want to see large explosions, crazy disasters, and to have something like that happen in January makes it all the more interesting. This time of year, people are yearning to get outside and do something, anything!

The whole event really got me thinking about what we would have done if our home was on the creek. It is human nature to want to stay put, as if your presence alone could sway the threat of dangerous rising water. Our logical side says to get OUT, get SAFE, and then deal with the clean up afterward. Our curious side tells us to go look, to assess for ourselves before making a decision. In essence, we ignore the warning signs. People in this situation had plenty of warning when they saw the water start to rise above normal levels seen in spring with the thaw. We are so complacent and unbelieving that a disaster could actually happen to us that many people go on as if it is another normal day with a nice distraction provided by Mother Nature.

Thankfully, we do not live by the creek but that doesn’t mean we are unaffected by it! There are bridges we must cross to get to the other side of the island and no matter what we take, we would end up crossing a bridge that spans Ketchikan Creek. There is only one grocery story on the south end of the creek and as I passed it on the day these pictures were taken, it was packed with people getting supplies. I had to grin a little as I was able to avoid all of that thanks to the two weeks of supplies we have stored up – at least food wise. We would get really sick of rice and beans and caned meat but at least we wouldn’t starve!

What about disasters that aren’t so obvious? I have been seeing articles posted about a ‘slow trickle’ disaster lately and it usually talks about our economy. There are more and more ads about buying gold and other precious metals than ever before. I counter this with buying food you can store for the long term instead. You can’t eat gold and any used in trading for food would make that food the most expensive thing you likely have ever eaten! There are stories about people trading actual silverware and silver tea services for food during hard times. It seems to me that buying 20 pounds of rice and then sealing them up would serve you better as ‘insurance’ than a hunk of metal would.

It is up to each individual person to decide for themselves when they should act on the warning signs of trouble on the horizon. I do not presume to tell people when or where or how. What I am suggesting is that you consider having some kind of insurance in the form of food, clean water, ways to stay warm, and ways to get out of dodge if needed. Educate yourself on the beginning signs of natural disasters that your area is prone to. TAKE CHARGE of your own path and stop relying on the media or government to tell you what you need to know. Chances are, you won’t be told how bad things are until it is too late.