Eau Claire Flood

Since Thursday I have been keeping very careful tabs on the flooding in Eau Claire.  Even though this event produced no serious damage, it was still quite the spectacle to see around town.  Strolling through Owen park, people were scattered everywhere to see their well know recreation area completely covered with water.  If this wasn't enough to catch one's eye, the normally bone dry bike path had a new rushing current all its own.  And if one was still unfazed, all they had to do is stand on one of the many foot bridges and feel the power of the surging water to get a sensation of being "swept away". Law enforcement started placing sandbags on First St. Friday night, especially around the man holes, and on Saturday it was apparent why; for a good block of the street was covered in water.  To make things more interesting, smoking choked up cars, which had attempted to drive through the deep standing water, along the side of the road added a nice back drop to the already abnormal scene. What I have provided here is a step by step guide to the events as of Thursday.  Even though some of these pictures are quite blurry (and I apologize!), I have provided the time and place of each picture along with a brief explanation of what is going on. Enjoy!

This is me standing on the bike trail right behind Hass Arts Building.  I took this picture Thursday evening right when things were starting to flood.  The bike path was completely clear of water at this time, but rising rapidly closer by the hour.

This is another view from the bike path on Thursday. As you can see, it looks more like I'm in Florida rather than Wisconsin in September. This picture was taken a little further down river, closer to Racy's Cafe.

This is taken from the old train bridge that connects Menominee to Clairmont on Thursday night as well.  This is the supposed "island" that had floated into the bridge.  Having run this path many times for a couple years now, I know that there are many small islands and peninsulas that jetty out just up river from this site.  This isn't so much of an island as it is a tree that had broken loose along with some sediment and shifted down river.  As you can see, it's not putting any pressure on the bridge like officials were worrying about, but would still be good to keep an eye on to be sure it doesn't interfere with the pipe going across.

This is the same tree from the river view.  It's a little harder to see, but it's more clear how easily part of the land could have gotten loose from all the small islands just up stream. Even though this was a rare occasion due to high water, this slightly seems like a natural process. I know that for small stream life, the more fallen trees and debris, the healthier the stream. Well wouldn't it be the same for rivers then? It seems only natural that trees break loose every once in a while to add shelter for organisms and break up the current.  It is unusual that the entire tree remained upright while it moved (which is probably due to high rain fall) and I'm sure that's what caught the public attention.

The next three pictures were taken on Thursday evening as well.  I show them not as evidence for how high the water was or unusual events that occurred, but rather a visual documentation of how an already saturated ground can pour the water almost directly into the river.  Let me explain.  For a good week and a half we had been getting a serious amount of rain fall in the area.  This combined with some quite chilly temperatures signaled the plants to not take in as much water.  With the soil already saturated, the Wednesday/ Thursday rains went directly into the Chippewa River.  This picture is taken right past the lumbar yard over by where Menominee crosses Clairmont. The water was literally seeping right through the ground.

There were little waterfalls everywhere where this water was going straight into the river.

This is Owen park on Thursday night before water even rose to cover the park.  This is just water sitting on top of the ground (it was still partially raining) which goes further to show how completely saturated the ground was.

More pictures of Owen park Thursday night.

Owen Park Thursday evening.

This is Pheonix park Thursday evening.  The normal layout usually goes far past the vegetation shown in this picture.

Pheonix Park again on Thursday night.

Alright, so a couple days have passed and it is now Saturday afternoon.  This is Putnam Park leading out to Putnam Rock. 

This was taken Saturday afternoon right before the river peaked and is a tree just to the right of Putnam rock.

This is another picture taken at the same time and location as the previous.  The current was so strong it was knocking trees over left and right which is evident by this photograph.

Even though this is hard to see, the water mark is at 776.  This was taken Saturday evening right before dark.  The River peaked around 11 pm so this is one of the highest levels the river rose to.  As you can also see, there is a dock submerged in the water that has caught some additional debris. 

Saturday evening looking at the Water St. bridge.  Water level 776.

Here is our wonderful bike trail looking down from the foot bridge.  It had such a strong current of it's own it would be very dangerous to swim in!

Here is Owen Park right before dusk on Saturday night.

Owen Park again with a good view of the tennis courts.

Owen Park again on Saturday night.

Owen Park on Saturday night.

First Street on Saturday night.  Sand bags were already in place for estimated "peakage" was predicted to be within 6 hours from when this picture was taken, but didn't get much higher than this

First Street again on Saturday night.  The corner the bottom right is the edge of the parking lot across Water St. from Hass. The water proceeded to run down Chippewa St. for about 3 houses.

This picture was taken of Owen Park on Sunday. As you can see, the water levels had already receded greatly.

Owen Park on Sunday once again.