Residents take initiative in flood preparedness

Last updated 3/9/1999 at Noon

Creekside residents need to stock up sandbags and sand in case spring run-off brings flooding.

"It never hurts to have some sandbags around," said Pine Meadow Ranch owner Dorro Sokol.

Sokol came to Sisters in March of 1971 and has seen plenty of high water since.

"I've been through three or four floods," Sokol recalled. "Sometimes you get real heavy run-off in May. The creek just goes wild and takes trees and boulders and everything."

She said that in one flood about 20 years ago, she lost 18 trees off her property into the creek. According to Deschutes County Watermaster Kyle Gorman, the flood Sokol remembers was probably the December 1980 flood when Squaw Creek ran at a rate of 2,000 cubic feet per second - 10 times its normal rate.

Fallen trees increase the flood hazard created by high flows.

"They fall in the creek, they form dams and the water spreads out," Sokol said.

Flood waters have washed out a bridge on Sokol's property twice over the years.

Sisters' Public Works Director Gary Frazee said residents in potential flood areas will have to prepare an "individual response" to the threat. The city will not supply sandbags or manpower to fill them.

"We just don't have them available," Frazee said. "Everybody will be on their own."

Residents can check with local hardware stores to order sandbags, and Frazee recommends residents call local contractors to get access to sand.

But residents should order both sandbags and sand early, Frazee says.

"When the time comes when sandbags are needed, everybody will be getting them and there'll be a shortage," Frazee said. "I mean, you won't be able to get them, probably."

There are other alternatives.

"Just as good as sandbags - or maybe better - is hay bales," Dorro Sokol said. "What I'm going to use is some hay that got wet last summer."

Sokol recommends inquiring from local farmers about getting some unsalable bales of hay.

While the deep, wet snowpack virtually ensures heavy run-off this spring, nice weather could help Sisters escape serious trouble.

"I've never seen that much snow," Gorman said. "It all depends on how fast it melts. If it melts kind of leisurely, everything will be just fine."

As a farmer, Sokol notes that all that water could be very beneficial.

"It's great from the irrigator's standpoint, if it doesn't all come off at once," she said.

The American Red Cross recommends that families have a plan in place in case the waters do come down hard and fast.

The Red Cross recommends having a disaster supply kit including a first aid kit and essential medications; battery-powered radio and flashlight; extra batteries; canned food and an opener; bottled water; rubber boots and rubber gloves.

Families should have written instructions on hand so that anyone can shut off utilities in the home and plan an evacuation procedure.

Don't walk or drive through flooded areas; heed barricades blocking roads and stay off bridges where water is covering them.

Author Bio

Jim Cornelius, Editor in Chief

Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.