Sleepless in Seattle?

Dump an inordinate amount of water on a piece of land and it can become saturated. A fourth grade teacher once taught me that tree roots not only anchor trees but also stabilize the soil. Well fast forward about 45 years and I found out otherwise when 14 inches of rain fell within a 48 time period proving those facts untrue. The trees helped pull the earth with them as they slid off the hillside. We lost about 100 trees along our mile long driveway with 8 mudslides destroying our road during what they call a 500 year flood about 5 years ago. Then 9 months later another heavy rainfall wreaked havoc on our drive. Fortunately the latter did less damage on the newly rebuilt dirt drive.Those storm memories had faded a bit until it started raining and raining every day last week.

Sleepless nights with lots of thunder and downpours started saturating farmland, rolling hills and cliffs. Creeks and rivers swelled with runoff muddy waters overflowing banks which hindered planting, grazing and haying.

Many highways/roads near us suffered from mudslides.  Highway crews have been very, very busy clearing fallen trees and muck. They really have done a wonderful job clearing debris.  

The posted signs along the River Highway 35  that warn about falling rock aren't kidding as last night's rain proved as a loosened boulder tumbled onto the highway. 

Falling rock is an understatement.

Thank goodness no one was hurt.

The boulder that fell  near Genoa was as big as a dumptruck. It took crews  hours to break down the fallen boulder and clear the road.

A friend also spoke of her brother's close call with a flash flood as its wall of water swept his car across the road and was luckily stopped by 5 tiers of barbed wire.  He was lucky to escape out an open back window with only a foot and a half of air space. Fortunately his cell phone had reception as he contacted his neighbor who arrived with a tractor  to pull out his vehicle. Another unexpected wall of water then swept the tractor into his car.  The neighbor returned with a bigger tractor to pull both the tractor and his car back onto the road. Mother Nature aren't you tired?

Now do you understand why I am Sleepless in Seattle?