Back in February I visited a viewpoint for BNSF’s crossing of the Columbia River. At that point winter had been quite benign and there wasn’t much reason for the river to run high.
Fast forward to June. During May the Vancouver area received nearly 200% of its ‘normal’ rainfall and through the first 13 days of June all but 4 days have received rain. Now, this rain didn’t just fall in Vancouver it fell all over the region. The result? The Columbia, which drains a significant part of Washington, Idaho, Western Montana, and British Columbia, is running quite high.
How high is it? Looking at the photos closely in February there were 13 1/2 courses on the pier between the cap and the water. Today there were only 9. Estimating a course at 18″ puts the river nearly 7′ higher than in February. While that’s not a flood risk it is a bunch of water especially when you consider the overall width and length of the Columbia.