Billed by some as a 500 year flood, the Nehalem Valley was devastated by flood waters in the spring of 1996. Coupled by a heavy snow pack that melted with warm unending rain (The Pineapple Express), river levels quickly rose up. This did not just affect Clatsop Country, but Tillamook and several others. Declared as a disaster area, it took many months for some residents to regain their homes and composure. Many residents lost everything: their  homes, contents, and livestock. Some farmers lost their winter hay in which to feed the livestock that were able to be saved.
    I remember watching the river come up, slowly but surely. Max had worked a graveyard the night before, and during the day we readied our small farm the best we could, never dreaming the river would reach the level that it eventually climbed too. It would not quit raining and by nightfall, the river was even with our lower pasture. While Max finally gave in to sleep, I anxiously kept an eye on the four horses we had stalled in our lower barn. I  had planned to put them in my upper pasture, but didn't want them to be in the pouring rain until the last moment.
    At midnight I stepped outside to the  roaring of the river rushing by. As I reached the barn, I was greeted by the uneasy whinneys of the horses---the barn was about 4 inches underwater already from my last check at 10 p.m. One by one I led the agitated horses to the safety of high ground. Then I waited up to see what the early  morning light would bring. From what I could hear in the darkness, a lot of water was traveling in unfamilar territory, as I could hear trees snapping up and down the river.
    Strangely enough, the day began with  beautiful, clear and sunny skies, a direct contradiction to what I saw in front of me. Even looking back now at these pictures, it seems like a dream. Imagine telling your children to go play on the small, rural highway that passes your home! The backyard was much too dangerous with the rushing water sailing by. The highway in comparison, had absolutely no traffic at all....no one was able to drive any distance at all due to flooding. To the right we could travel three miles until high water turned us back at the Jewell School. To the left we could go a quarter of a mile. Residents put a rowboat at the Jewell School end, and that is how we received our groceries until the water receded, which took about 5 days.
    One thing that will always remain etched in my mind is the way this community bonds together when the going gets tough, as it certainly did in the spring of 1996. There is something to be said about small town spirit.
    Our fire department was quite busy with the threat of barn fires from wet hay wicking up to dry bales and combusting. With so many barns in threat of barn fires, the National Guard was eventually called in to remove the hay.