The road to Willow House crosses our little river before turning sharply left and following the riverbank to the house. The river, the headwaters of the South Nation River, is usually little more than a creek, but it responds rapidly to increased inflow from rain or snowmelt. The year before we moved to Willow House, the culverts that carry the stream beneath the road were all replaced with larger and more numberous culverts. The new culverts have always been sufficient to contain the stream’s most active flow.
That all changed on Tuesday. With a few mild days, our extensive snow cover has been melting rapidly, and on Monday night a heavy rain supplemented the snowmelt. The engorged river overwhelmed the culverts and began creeping across the road.
RailGuy moved a vehicle to the far side of the bridge so that we wouldn’t be trapped, and then we watched with fascination as the river continued to rise across the day. The water never exceeded 6 or 8 inches in depth over the road, and we were able to walk to the other side, but the power of the flow was impressive. The current soon began to erode the gravel on the roadway. The line of rills along the road mark the edge of excavations in the gravel.
Whirlpools marked the spots where water was being sucked into the culverts below the surface.
By Wednesday morning, the flow over the road had fallen to a trickle and we were able to survey the damage the water had done.
Viewing the effects of just a few inches of water flowing over 24 hours gave me a much more visceral understanding of the forces that must have created the Grand Canyon! Here’s Pookie, looking over the main channel the flood grooved into the road, about a foot deep.
On Thursday morning, workers from the Township arrived with several loads of gravel and a tractor to repair the damage.
It didn’t take them long to tidy things up and we were able to drive over the bridge again.
This Friday morning, the river is still flowing strongly, and is higher than the culverts, where whirlpools are still swirling. But it’s well below road level, and ice-free.
Here’s a short video of the river in full flood on Tuesday afternoon.
Willow House Chronicles 
How exciting!
There’s something oddly beautiful especially in the second photo and in the video… I think they suggest to me the triumph of nature over human attempts to subjugate her.
It was fun, mostly because we were only inconvenienced in the most minor way. If that rushing water was near your house, it would be scary.
I can well relate. Each spring and fall a section of our 1000 foot driveway gets flooded (normally only about half a foot deep). However we leave the truck by the road as it once got about a foot high. We had to go to town this morning which means putting on rubber boots and carrying our shoes. You put the shoes on when you get to the truck and the other way around when you come back.
Last spring I had the surprise of finding a BEAVER in the flooded road. He slapped the water with its tail to give a warning but there was nowhere to dive. When he realized he could not escape, he started growling at me and got ready to lunge. I kept my distances.
It gets so muddy around here in the spring, we sometimes wear our boots to the car just to keep our shoes clean!
Wow, an encounter with a beaver! I’m sure you were wise to give him room.
that is quite dramatic …. and it looks cold with snow still lying about, so I guess you did not feel like paddling! you are fortunate the council came to repair the road so quickly 🙂 we have had 10 days of rain, so a few floods and lots of mushrooms here!
wow. just mighty wow.
Amazing images! We are poised here with mega rain warnings, flooding, flash freezing phew!
Forgot to mention, love that Pookie!:-)