"We watched the Sandy River take down countless 50 foot tall trees, ripping them off its banks and swallowing them up."
January 26, 2011 12:06 PM   Subscribe

 
That milky tea colour of a river in spate always brings me a feeling of unease.
posted by Virtblue at 12:13 PM on January 26, 2011 [2 favorites]


Kind of weird musical accompaniment to the video.

As well, here's some background on the Sandy River:

Until October 2007, the river was dammed and the flow rate regulated. The Bull Run Hydroelectric Project diverted water from the Sandy River at the Marmot Dam to the Little Sandy River at the Little Sandy Dam. Water was diverted from the Little Sandy River to Roslyn Lake through a wood box flume. The artificial lake supplied the 22-megawatt Bull Run hydroelectric powerhouse and emptied into the Bull Run River.[14]

On July 24, 2007, Marmot Dam was demolished by engineers using 650 pounds (290 kg) of explosives.[15] It was followed by the Little Sandy Dam in 2008,[14] and Roslyn Lake ceased to exist. The decommissioning restored the Little Sandy River to steelhead and salmon runs for the first time in a hundred years. Marmot Dam had always contained a fish ladder. Portland General Electric, the dams' owner, donated 1,500 acres (6.1 km2) of land near the dams to a nature reserve.[16] The final phase of the Marmot Dam removal was completed on October 19, 2007, when the temporary dam was demolished and the river started to flow freely for the first time since 1912.[14]

posted by KokuRyu at 12:13 PM on January 26, 2011 [2 favorites]


Whoa. Pretty but powerful, though the lighthearted 70s music combined with the split screen wipes kind of felt awkward and seemingly "light and cool" while the subject matter was dead serious and showing the earth ripping itself apart. I couldn't quite mesh the music/tone/layout with the actual footage, though it did look quite lovely.

I guess what I'm saying is: this is amazing but it could have used a less cool-for-school treatment.
posted by mathowie at 12:14 PM on January 26, 2011 [3 favorites]


Oh holy awesome.

For those that don't know as it really didn't make too much national news. The Sandy River coming from Mt. Hood in Oregon flooded January 16th. It took out the only road into the area, Lolo Pass Road, cutting off around 200 people from their homes. Both the bridges over the Sandy and nearby Zigzag rivers were taken out, as well as about 900ft of road. The river routed itself down the 900ft section for several hours. Approximately 9 inches of rain fell uphill from the location in 24 hours, which doesn't include snowmelt. It was estimated that snowmelt added the equivalent of 7 more inches. The flood was enough to re-route the river for the third time in 14 years.

Lolo Pass is the lowest pass around Mt. Hood, but also the very least used. It is 2-lane road part of the way, a dirt road with turnouts for a good 10 mile section, and 1-lane paved the rest of the way. It is probably my favorite area to get away from civilization. The area past the small residential area off of US 26 is National Forest land with only a few features: a handful of trails including the Pacific Crest Trail, some power lines, a few roads, the occasional bear.
posted by Mister Fabulous at 12:20 PM on January 26, 2011 [7 favorites]


Once I notice the people moving slightly too slowly, it starts to impugn the movement of the water and the rate the trees fall at.

The color is almost too pretty, but for some reason I find that excusable - my brain attributes it to HD or whatever.
posted by Prince_of_Cups at 12:24 PM on January 26, 2011


Nice, thanks for the post...

I'm one of the lucky one's, my computer has a mute button, so I can turn off music when it doesn't fit (and, I could even play my own, if I have something that seems right)... The nicest part of this is that, as a result, I don't need to tell you guys that I don't like the music! I'm surprised more computers don't have volume controls!
posted by HuronBob at 12:27 PM on January 26, 2011 [2 favorites]


one's=ones maybe, hell, i'm not sure...
posted by HuronBob at 12:28 PM on January 26, 2011


You may:

1. attempt to ford the river
2. caulk wagon and float it across
3. take a ferry across
4. wait to see if conditions improve

What is your choice? ▓

posted by theodolite at 12:38 PM on January 26, 2011 [18 favorites]


You have chosen dysentery. You have chosen poorly.
posted by thewittyname at 12:55 PM on January 26, 2011 [6 favorites]


Surprised at the kvetching over the music. I thought Air's La Femme d'Argent fit perfectly.
posted by mullingitover at 12:59 PM on January 26, 2011 [3 favorites]


Lolo Pass

(not to be confused with the more well known Lolo Pass/Trail in Idaho).
posted by stbalbach at 1:04 PM on January 26, 2011


Or the Trolololololo pas between /b/ and MetaFilter.
posted by notion at 1:11 PM on January 26, 2011 [5 favorites]


Pass. Damn thee, ghost of edit button.
posted by notion at 1:12 PM on January 26, 2011


That river looked so...

DELICIOUSLY CHOCOLATEY!

Sorry to hear about the folks losing access to their homes/their homes though.
posted by Samizdata at 1:13 PM on January 26, 2011


This was shot with a consumer "SLR" camera, the Canon 7D. Pretty amazing. Makes me want to go out and shoot gorgeous HD.
posted by stbalbach at 1:16 PM on January 26, 2011 [1 favorite]


Oh you guys! I was all turning down the sound before I started the video...the accompaniment is Air!. If you look at the video as more art and less news, it helps.

It's beautiful footage though.

Heh, the art-news channel. Current events filmed at 60fps HD and slowed down, set to groovy chill music. You could put an informative crawl at the bottom. No obnoxious newscasters or pundits. Oh MTV, what you could have been, instead a huge heap of suck.
posted by Xoebe at 1:18 PM on January 26, 2011 [9 favorites]


Sorry to hear about the folks losing access to their homes/their homes though.

After a couple of days the water receded. They could access by foot or 4-wheeler. The local fire district set up shuttles so people could go to work. The river was routed back to the original channel and access to the residential was opened yesterday via a temporary access road being built.
posted by Mister Fabulous at 1:38 PM on January 26, 2011


If you look at the video as more art and less news, it helps.

That's my problem, right there, since viewing it as "art" makes it worse.
posted by lydhre at 1:45 PM on January 26, 2011


As someone who just moved to a house between two creeks, this video really quickened my heart several beats. I really hope I never stand at my kitchen sink while doing the breakfast dishes and look up to see anything even remotely resembling that scene.....gorgeous and amazingly powerful though it was.....
posted by nevercalm at 1:46 PM on January 26, 2011


Some of those bystanders were getting mighty close to that river.
posted by zzazazz at 1:54 PM on January 26, 2011


Beautiful footage, but cheapened by the editor's showing off. When the pictures are that nice there's no need to fancy it all up with splits screens and etc.
posted by Kraftmatic Adjustable Cheese at 2:42 PM on January 26, 2011


January 9: Sandy Bridge released. January 16: Sandy River floods, destroying both existing bridges. Considering Intel's agreement not to engage in anticompetitive practices, this is awfully suspicious.
posted by alexei at 2:47 PM on January 26, 2011


This reminded me of Ken Kesey's descriptions of the Wakonda Auga River in Sometimes a Great Notion:

The settlers had hurried to claim banksite lots, not knowing at first that their highway had a habit of eating away at its banks, and all that those banks might hold. It took these settlers a while to learn about the river and its habits. Listen:
"She's a brute, she is. She got my house last winter an' my barn this, by gum. Swallered 'em up."
"So you wouldn't recommend my building here waterside?"
Wouldn't recommend or wouldn't not recommend, neither one. Do what you please. I just tell you what I seen. That's all."
"But if what you say is so, if it is widenin' out at that rate, then figure it: a hundred years ago there wouldn't have been no river at all."
posted by Killick at 4:03 PM on January 26, 2011


That's great, but the sound of a rushing river is pretty interesting.

I doubt it would be very interesting. At that distance, a flooding river is just a really loud rushing roar. If they didn't have a good microphone, it would just be a wash, interrupted with people yelling "There goes that tree! Wow, look at that tree go!" But then, I'm a big fan of Air.
posted by WhackyparseThis at 5:07 PM on January 26, 2011 [1 favorite]


oregon rules.
posted by rainperimeter at 6:33 PM on January 26, 2011


[..pulls out Shazam to identify music....]
posted by marvin at 6:37 PM on January 26, 2011


I live about 5 minutes from some falls, and the best time to go to view falls is NOT in the summertime. The best time to go to the falls is during or right after a heavy rainstorm, or when the weather starts to turn warmer after snowfall.
posted by P.o.B. at 6:49 PM on January 26, 2011


« Older The Minimalist ends its weekly run   |   "Friendships grow six times as fast as under the... Newer »


This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments