SnOwregon 2019 ~ Post XI ~ THE AFTERMATH ~ Large Scale DoozyWhoppers: Highway Messiness ~ Original Photography And Rather Lengthy Discussion ~
The End Is Near
The Joy Of The Lovely Of It All ~ Part IX - The Aftermath
Yes, I am still discussing snowfall. Even though it is rapidly approaching spring in many corners of the country. But let's face it, I LIKE talking about snow. Plus, I still have more photos to share. From all that bopping around the countryside during the storm, and afterwards. So peruse on, if you so desire.
For Every Action There Is An Equal and Opposite RE-Action
Mr. Newton really knew his stuff. And all this scientific pattertwall pertains quite nicely to our SnOwregon discussion. Your town gets whopped by a huge snow event, and at first thought, it's all totally new and fun and exciting. (Evidenced by 8 previous posts covering the joys of the NightSnow beauty.) But as Issac the science guy put forth so many years ago, for every grand happening, there is an equal and opposite DOWN side as well. We discussed a few of those early on. With all my complaining about heavy snow removal for two nights straight. But, like everything in life, there is always something MORE to consider. And this snowfall was no different. There WAS more, and some of it was a mess on a larger scale than my little buildings and such.
So...now we're headed out to look at the bigger downside of this whole deep snow stuff. The mayhem and destruction it caused in many places. Those snows we had certainly made for lovely night photography, but also pushed back with a large price tag in the opposite direction. On many fronts.
The Highway Debacle
Seventeen inches of Cascade cement (disguised as snow) really messed up the local interstate highway system. For days and days. The snow knocked down thousands of trees, and blocked a large chunk of The I-5. A major N-S route from southern California to Canada that passes through my state. Our SnOwregon white stuff from above closed 40 miles of the highway for days. That is highly significant. Not to mention VERY expensive to 'fix'. And the fix was quite a patchwork. As these photos will demonstrate.
Do Tell, DD
The following photos were taken a couple of months AFTER the storm. Ideally I would have WALKED down the interstate at the time of the storm, with my camera, to capture the event. But I was BUSY. Moving my own snow. Plus, I'm sure they wouldn't LET me walk down the highway, if I'd had the time.
Not only that, we're talking about plodding on foot 40 miles, or at least some part of it, in 17 inches of heavy snow. How far would I get, before I passed out, or the local powers that be invited me to leave the area? So, we have to do with the 'after' photos. Just use your imagination during viewing...and pretend there is deep snow knocking things down all over the place.
And as you can see below, the damage was pretty extensive. And as I've stated many times...possibly to the point of ad nauseam...this snow is HEAVY!
So, once more, WITH further ado:
The Aftermath of SnOwregon 2019: Highway Madness
Enjoy away...
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Previous SnOwregon PAIN and PLEASURE Posts:
Puffy NightSnows
Industrial Magic and Light ~ Part II
Industrial Magic and Light ~ Part I
Goin Out The Country ~ Part II
Goin Out The Country ~ Part I
Drive n' Around The NightSnows ~ Part II
Drive n' Around The NightSnows ~ Part I
Whispy NightSnows
SnOwregon 2019 THE PAIN-Post II
SnOwregon 2019 THE PAIN-Post I
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Who Ordered THIS Business
The interstate, now open. You can see all the downed trees above the truck. This is two months after the storm. They opened the road, but still have a lot of work to do.
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The 70 mph, out-the-windshield view. The snow filled the branches, weighing down the trees above the call of tree duty, finally felling them in long rows. One after the other. There must have been hundreds, if not thousands of trees blocking the highway. They just laid out across the lanes like a bunch of Skittle's® pins.
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This large Douglas fir uprooted completely, and tumbled down the hill onto the highway. I can assure you it didn't just stop where it now sits. The workers pushed it back to the ditch line with large equipment. (It would take more people than could fit around the tree, to move it by hand. Even if you WANTED to push it around.)
I'm not exactly sure how they cleared the road, but I'm guessing they had saw crews bumping past one another, time after time, tree after tree, on down the highway. They first had to cut trees out of the road, then pull them to the side with large equipment, then move on to the next mess. All in DEEP snow. What a job! I wish I could have seen this action in play. It took one herculean effort to open the highway. Mile after mile, for FORTY miles.
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The Guardrail Tells The Story
Dented guardrails, where medium sized trees fell and doinked the steel. This goes on and on down the highway, wherever there were trees within reach. The crews just cut the trees off, then shoved a lot of them into the ditches below the guardrail. No time to mess with them, just time enough to get the trees off the road and the highway opened for traffic.
I've always been amazed at how much a green tree weighs. Even a small, 6" diameter tree can do you in, if it falls and hits you on the k'noggen. Explains why hardhats are a required piece of safety gear in the woods.
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A LARGE tree landed on this guardrail. Messed it up pretty good. I'm sure they will replace this one soon. The other dented railings? I'm guessing will stay that way for years to come. Can't imagine how much it would cost to replace all the damaged guardrails for miles and miles and miles.
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Many smaller side roads were blocked as well. Some 'minor' roads, particularly up in the forest, are still closed. You can see here where they just cut off the tree parts sticking out into the road, and left the rest. No time to mess with the remains of the tree. Just "get it open".
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These are called 'rootwads' in forestry lingo. The whole tree fell over when the roots gave out with all that weight of snow in the crown of the tree. Add a bit of wind and 'kaa-whoompff'. Must have made a LOT of noise when they went. Though sad to see, it would be interesting to experience the fall. From a distance!
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A smaller access road next to the interstate. The main highway is up above to the left. What a mess. They will probably come back to salvage these trees for lumber. Depends on who owns the land and time and cost and the other, various etceterata' of life.
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We call these 'jackstrawed' trees. These types of areas were nothing but a joy to climb through at work. Very tiring and not always safe to go under, over and through. Sometimes the trees move. Talk about EXCITING. We saw this type of thing fairly often in the woods, particularly after a windstorm. That's why it's called 'windthrow' This photo area is near the road, so you could just walk around it, if you had to get somewhere. Not always an option in the woods. "Get to climb'n, woods workers".
Someone will probably salvage this as well. The larger Doug fir are 2 to 3 feet in diameter. Trees are worth quite a bit of change for lumber. Though they are sometimes left for wildlife habitat, erosion control, and as a rotting source of nutrients for the future growth of the site. All depends on where you are and the management plans for the area. If there are any plans.
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I Seem To Have A 'Thing' For Dented Guardrails
More of the same damage along another access road. The falling trees have been very busy. Ever rapped your knuckles on a metal guardrail? They're made of some seriously heavy steel.
This was a very quiet snowstorm. Not a violent blow with wind and all sorts of other, stormy mayhem. Just quiet, gently falling wisps of flaky cement. I wonder what it sounded like when the falling trees hit the metal guardrails? I'm imagining a distinct, metallic 'ka-lonk' in the quiet of the night. Once again, it would be interesting to experience the action. And once again, from a safe distance.
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A close up and personal view of a tree after completing it's falling thing. For a smaller tree, it really trashed the guardrail.
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"Ka-lonk, ka-lonk, ka-lonk...ka-lonk, ka-lonk...,....ka-lonkkkk".
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Beyond The Guardrails
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A short stop on the way home to mess with some Japanese knotweed (behind the Subaru). Another less-traveled road that was probably completely covered with trees and debris a few weeks back. Note all the scratches and scrapes in the roadway, left over from large equipment pushing everything off the road and into the ditch.
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A view through the trees of salvage logging, photographed above the road from that last photo. I think this is private land, so the person with the equipment is most likely cutting out his road, and salvaging the timber for sale as lumber. Luckily he has the heavy equipment, or paid someone else to do it.
There are a lot of local loggers in this area that can help out. A ton of hard, dangerous and dirty work goes into cutting and clearing the large trees after a storm like this. It boggles the mind when you look at the massive scale of EVERYTHING on a logging operation. Humans are the smallest, punniest part of the equation. These folks are a WHOLE lot tougher than me.
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We stopped in for a snack near this power station of some sort. The snow smashed all the trees in every direction. Amazing what the heavy white stuff can do. (That's an 8 foot fence.) One NICE thing about all this heavy snow? It mashed down the blackberries as well. Like those in the foreground. Ah, blackberries, the scourge of the N.W. But OH so GOO-OOOOD to eat (the berries, not the bushes). I suppose if you're going to be a major scourge, the least you can do is have a tasty berry to go along WITH your royal scourge-liness.
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"Just cut the trees off and move on, Bill. Cut the trees and move".
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More Smooshed Flat
Looking across the way from a smaller road next to the highway. Even the shrubbery were flattened by the snows. Looked a bit comical. I couldn't tell what the bushes were, but they got seriously scrunched by the snow buildup.
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Close up view of our unknown, smashed bushes. Captured using the old 40X zoom on my Lumix. (Gotta love long extension lenses. Save a TON of walking and climbing up a nasty-steep hill.) Even WITH photo magic, I still can't tell you what these are, beyond smashed-into-a-funky-town, bushy-haircut bushes. I guess I'm only a decent Joe Forester up close ( :
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In Conclusion-al Conclusion
Though our SnOwregon 'happening' was a rather impressive winter event, at least for this part of the world, it pales in comparison to many weather events that have occurred worldwide in the last few years. Both in effect, and the massive human and monetary costs. Around the entire globe. Huge debacles, such as Puerto Rico's devastating hurricane(s), California and other area wildfires, Midwest (U.S.) ice, snow, rain and flooding events of this spring, worldwide earthquakes and tsunamis...the list goes on and on and on.
Sadly, peoples lives are lost, or changed forever due to massive natural events so far beyond of our control. I feel for everyone affected by these, and realize this event of ours was more of an inconvenience by comparison. Though the monetary costs were still very large for cleanup, and putting our road systems back together. I cannot even fathom the costs of these other, much larger events. On all fronts. Really makes one appreciate the everyday, normal boredom of life to the Nth degree.
Stay tuned for more SnOwregon-THE AFTERMATH II, coming soon to a post near you.
~ Finto ~ (Temporaritudinale')
Thanks for stopping in and viewing SnOwregon 2019: The AFTERMATH. If you have any thoughts about winter storms, the weight of snow on trees and other highway parts, driving in snow, or after the snow is gone, guardrail fixes, smashed bushes, or anything else this post reminds you of, please feel free to comment away in the spaces below. I'd love to hear from you.
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And go to @ddschteinn -- There's a whole lot more...
Posted: 05/10/2019 @ 11:04
Excerpts From Late-Night Conversations With A Mechanical Cat
Fact Number 142
More Stinky the Cat Classics from Catfacts of Yesteryear
Looks like a fire hazard in the photos. Hopefully things aren't too dry there, or all thos downed trees, twigs, and pine needles coulc pose a threat.
Yeah, that will be a problem later on. It is not really fire season yet, though I heard we had a fire out east of here yesterday. Too early for that business. I used to fight fires in the Forest Service, not a fun thing to do. But glad there are folks that do it for us. Hard, hot work. I'm hoping they get this cleaned up before July/August. I'm sure it's on their minds, at least. Thanks for stopping in. Have a nice weekend.
The sheer volume of downed trees is really quite amazing, and quite sad. Great photos to document the damage. That was a crazy weather event.
Thanks, glad you enjoyed the photo extravaganza. A little different than the NightSnows, but then, this is the after effect. Sigh. Quite hard on the tree life. For here, this was a pretty significant event. I'm sure you see a whole lot more snow there, and the trees are probably used to the stuff by now. (The ones already fell down that would fall down. Not necessarily a bunch of smart trees.) I'm hoping this is the last one. Though the white stuff gave me a lot of posts. Yee haa. Hope your Friday night is a good one. Cheers
WOW the damage you share with us here is amazing really shows the power of nature
Old Mother Nature is a powerful lady, that's for sure. There was a lot more before the cleanup, but I didn't get out to document it. This is bad enough though. I feel for the trees. All they want to do is sit there and be a tree ( :
what you documented is for sure bad enough not only the trees but those guard rails took the brunt as well
I to feel for the trees I always find it sad to see damage like that
Yeah, those guard rails really hit me...almost comical, in a very expensive, destructive way. There are dents for miles and miles. Amazing. And they are pretty tough. Like I discussed, I'm sure they will leave them. Cost millions to replace it all. And they will still stop a vehicle from going where it shouldn't as they are. A reminder of the SnOwregon event of 2019 every time I drive down the highway.
I can see what you mean about comical, and the cost to repair the guard rails would be huge I would imagine, maybe they will be selective and just repair the badly damaged portions
Have a great weekend ;)
I will miss the snow pics :(
It is a bit sad, isn't it? No worries though, when I get through with Aftermath, there might be another post. Hmmm, the air is thick with anticipation and major gid (short for giddiness).
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Yeah up here I always seemed to get chiggers every time I tangles much with the blackberry bushes. The berries are great though!
Mighty impressive photos. Very sad to see the many good trees down. Mother Nature does things up big! Not sure I could take California. Besides the high cost of everything, you have all the natural disasters seemingly all the time: drought, fires, mudslides and of course the worry about the big one at anytime!
I'm SO glad we don't have your chiggers. They are a pain. Though not as bad as your ticks. We have them, but not in the droves of out east. The berries are sublime little wonders, aren't they. Do you have lots of them? Make good jam and slurry.
Glad you liked my photos, even if they are of the hard life of the tree. Harsh life for sure when Mother Nature takes a swipe at them. And I agree, there are a bunch of hard nature things down yonder. Though the big one scares me now and then, if I really ponder it. Supposedly we're as ripe here as down there. They say if it hits like SF in 1906, we could be without power and electricity for a year or two. THAT is sobering. We're such punky little things, running around on this big ball. Thanks for stopping in, and have a nice weekend. Cheers to a Friday in May.
Crazy the damage something so lovely can do. I think some of the worse wind storms would have struggled to do that much damage. I do hope they leave some of the larger trees to act a nurse logs. BTW .. don't ever walk 40 miles in a snowstorm:):):)
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Ha ha! When you said, you LIKE talking about snow, I would like to say, I LIKE seeing snow as well. ;D
For this post, I feel so sorry to see some damages that occurred because of snow. Apart from your good description, your photos are clearly explained about it.
By the way, a lot of bushes on the hill in the last two photos are very amazing. Great capture. ;)