Be appeased, clamoring hordes.

In order to satisfy the global demand for an in depth look on what being a civil engineer at nhc is like, I present the following pictures of my most recent bout of field work. If the town of Chehalis, Washington rings a bell, it's because it almost got washed off the map in December of last year when a mega flood came through due to a prolonged period of prodigious precipitation. And when I say mega, I mean 60,000 cubic feet per second of water when normal flow is about 200. This torrent removed a couple of bridges, one of which had been built and successfully stood the test of time since 1921. (I guess if the exam is long enough, even the best are bound to get something wrong?) My company has been retained to perform the hydraulic calculations for the two replacements, meaning, "tell us how high to put the new ones." To be fair, NO bridge is designed to withstand the type of flood that took these two out, so anyone thinking that the new ones will be able to withstand the force the next time 60,000 cfs comes down the chute can expect either disappointment, or a VERY large, VERY expensive bridge to go in. So expensive in fact, that everyone would be in an uproar about big government spending and all that. So that's why we were out there, now have a look:

Bridge #1, Chandler Road, the flow direction is from left to right, and you can tell that one end (the end that was on the bank the photo is taken from) broke off first, the bridge swung around like a weather vane, and then the other side broke loose.

Bridge #2 Leudinghaus Road. The bridge seen is a temporary one put in so people could get to their homes, as the two that washed out are the only way in and out of a little un-incorporated townish community called Dryad. This particular bridge just got ripped right off its abutments, which are still neatly in place.

The sad creature was tossed downstream about 100 yards, and flipped over upside down for good measure. This picture is taken from that temporary bridge see above.

Here we see the side of the truss, full of debris, and nicely wedged into the mud. Notice my coworker (One Pat Flanagan) in blue shirt at the end of the bridge for scale.

This would be me and coworker Sam Gould standing on the Chandler Road bridge deck, looking at the large rapid that is formed by the flow constriction caused by the bridge taking up more that its fair share of the channel.

Here's the same bridge deck looking in the opposite direction. It is pretty remarkable that the thing stayed in on piece (not a crack in the concrete decking!) while being treated like a rag doll in a pit bull's trap.

After assessing the scene, we get to work. Here's me and my watercraft used to keep me from getting sucked into the swirling vortex downstream.

I guess it doesn't totally keep me from getting sucked into the swirling vortex.

In case you wondered what in the world 60,000 cfs looks like compared to 200, check out the debris pile stacked up here. The survey rod is extended to 18' and the water surface behind me is about 3-4 feet lower than my feet.

Here is the poor little truss from the top of the big debris pile in the picture above. Now you can see the temporary bridge upstream of the failed structure to get an idea of how far downstream it went.

A victory leap once the work is over:

So now you know what it's like when I am not sitting in my office at a computer.