It was this time last year that our farm and faming neighbors were hunkering down and sand bagging like crazy. The January ’09 flood was a record event. Flooding is a fairly normal event during the winter, but last January was the perfect storm. We had snow melting, huge amounts of rain and really high tides. As you can imagine, I am glad that the January ’09 flood is put to rest.
It is ironic how over time disasters take on their own personality and eventually are referred to as the ’51 flood or the ‘9o flood. Farmers are already referring to the January ’09 flood as the ’09 flood. I have been in more than one meeting where an old timer has stood up and referenced the ’51 flood. I have never seen pictures of the ’51 flood, until recently. I knew that it was a big flood to have so burned the memory of into the farmers pysche 50 years later. But when I saw the aerial photographs, I finally understood. That flood wiped out the City of Stanwood. May we never see water like that again.