- fence damage.jpg (502.55 KiB) Viewed 7078 times
And where the water rose over the road....
- over the road.jpg (833.67 KiB) Viewed 7076 times
We talked to the state about widening the creek on our side of the fence, to reduce the water pressure on the culvert (They call them Tinhorns here) so the damage to the ROAD would be reduced. A win/win for both. Nope. We were focusing on the repairs to the "new to us" farmhouse so we let it go, and fixed our fence.
Over the last three years, heavy rains continued to erode the crossing there, and ate away at the banks. Two more flooding rains pounded the "TinHorn" and twisted it in it's position under the road. We'd call the Road Department, they would come out, pour a load of gravel in front of the TinHorn and leave. I would explain that they at least needed RipRap for the weight, but they'd explain the "Boss Said," and dump the gravel. First heavy rain and the gravel would shoot out the other side and be washed downstream.
For the last few months, we have to go out one gate, and come in the other to get to the orchard section of the pasture.
But, we found a neighbor with heavy equipment and a break in his schedule and he came out Saturday and .... knocked out the small job in three hours.Here are some before pictures:
This pic looks upstream at the crossing and the creekbed. Note how narrow the bed is and how deep. In the pics above remember that the water was WAY above the banks here and boiling across the top of the fence. Think of the power. Look at the left side of the bank at the crossing. The ranger can handle some pretty steep angles but this one was a bit difficult and risky.
- 01 before.jpg (605.58 KiB) Viewed 7078 times
When the water backs up in front of the Tinhorn, it begans to whirlpool and digs a hole. this drop off here is pretty deep, four to six feet in places, below the level of the creek bed. It was getting wider and moving farther back from the Tinhorn with every really heavy rain.
- 03 before.jpg (638.71 KiB) Viewed 7078 times
This is a good view of the Tinhorn itself. When we moved here, before the first major flood, this was level with the roadway above. You can clearly see that it's now canted in it's position in relation to the road. There was a clear gap under the road, but they packed gravel into the hole and sealed that. Another major high pressure flow and the rotation could continue.
- 04 water twisted the culvert.jpg (572.74 KiB) Viewed 7078 times
But, we called in the big guns, and paid for the work, for OUR benefit. Now we can really repair the fence and the reduced power of the water shouldn't take it down again.
