Slide Ridge Flash Flood – July 2, 2019

Shortly after 3 PM on July 2, 2019, a torrential rainstorm hit the Lake Chelan Valley.
And as is almost always the case, the South Lakeshore Road between the Cove Marina and the Yacht Club gets covered with mud and rocky debris that covers the road and forces traffic to use a single lane, dirt by-pass.  Chelan County Road Crews employed an innovative solution to getting the road open to one way traffic (using the emergency by-pass that has been in place now for a long time).  Employing portable traffic control lights at each end, the by-pass will serve as a safe, one-way pathway around the washout until crews can get on scene next Monday. The devices are synchronized Traffic Signals – that use sensors to detect traffic at each end so that they can react to traffic flow in each direction with minimum wait times and yet the there is no need for full time employees on site to direct traffic 7×24 in the interim. 

Son Will Isenhart and I flew out over the area and captured video and still images of the situation, which pretty much speak to the event. 
Fortunately, there was no property damage to nearby homes and structures, and no injury to anyone in the area. 
Just lots and lots of mucky mud, rocks and gravel — almost like wet cement as it flowed down the ravine. 

Flying Down The Shute Towards The Lake

Enjoy these still photos (below)  – mostly taken from above.