We like to complain about the weather around here. Sometimes our complaints sound like bragging, however. I think that part of what we like about living where we do is that some people think that it is a harsh environment where it is a struggle to live. When folks from some other part of the country ask about the snow, we try to dig up (pun intended) our best blizzard stories. When they ask about wildfires, we cite the ones that came closest.

For a couple of years we have been living in the midst of drought. The woods were crackly dry and when you waked through the forest, it was impossible to do so silently. The bark beetle infestation has killed so many trees in the hills, that we look instinctively to certain hillsides, almost expecting to see them go up in flames soon. Our winter last year was almost totally open, with just a few spring blizzards to provide enough snow to cover up the dry, brown hillsides and fields.

But the weather in the hills can change suddenly, and the dry spring and long summer that we expected is turning out to be a wet spring. It has been hinting of rain for most of the week, with fog and mist and cloudy skies. Yesterday, we got the rain. Thunderstorms parked over the hills and let loose with hard rain that persisted. All you had to do was go outside and stand in any minor depression in the hills and you instantly knew the meaning of “gully washer.” The streets in town were filled with streams carrying lots of mud and debris from the hills. If it hadn’t been raining so hard, the puddles and streams running down the streets would have been irresistible to the neighborhood children.

We’ve got rain in the forecast for the rest of the week and the National Weather Service has posted a flash flood warning for most of the hills. Rapid Creek, which normally meanders through the city within its modest banks, has turned into a raging torrent. After much experience with devastating floods, including the 1972 flood that devastated the city, Rapid City has a well-developed flood plain and the creek can roar through town without causing much damage. It is impressive to see how much water goes past. You get a picture of why the bridges are so wide in places where normally a small culvert would contain the entire creek.

Add to the thunderstorms and high water the predictions of high winds and today may produce some weather that we can tell stories about for years to come. Telling about how we survived severe weather is a favorite pastime around here. We are a resilient people and see ourselves as survivors, so we are always looking for good weather stories to tell. From time to time the weather cooperates and gives us the stories.
Last evening we headed into town after supper to check on the newsletter that was being printed. The rain was falling hard enough to have the wipers running on high and our speed reduced in order to maintain visibility on very familiar streets. We avoided Jackson Boulevard, which is under construction and has lots of places for the water to pool. The steep streets around the church were running like small streams and things looked pretty dramatic. That’s one of the things about the hills. When we get water, there is nowhere for it to go but down and it quickly runs off and spreads out across the plains.

I’m going to make a run up to Bridger today to return a tipi that was borrowed for the Taize gathering last weekend. My route doesn’t take me close to too many creeks, but I will get to get a good look at the Belle Fourche River where it crosses under New Underwood Raod. It should have gained a pretty good head of steam by then. The Bell is supposed to be causing flooding upstream in the city of Belle Fourche, and there are plenty of places for more water to run into it by the time it gets out to the prairie. There is lots of room for the river to spread out when it gets into the open country.

Bridger sits right next to the Cheyenne River and it can spread out into the cottonwoods and look like quite a torrent when it floods as well. I don’t have to cross the Cheyenne, but it might be worth driving down to the bridge tot get a look as long as I’m going to be that close.

The Rapid City Journal has a collection of flood pictures submitted by readers on its web site that show lots of muddy water running down the streets, through the creek bed and in other places. I suspect that we’ll have more pictures and stories to tell by the end of the week.

The pictures and stories may prove to be useful to us as we face the summer. Despite the fact that we have too much water at the moment, we know that the way it is now is not the story of the entire year. The rains can run off, the soil can become dry again and the woods can threaten fire after just a few weeks of warm dry weather. By August we could be sniffing the air for smoke.

But for now it is good to give the firefighters a bit of a break. They won’t have to be on the highest alert to put out fires. They do, however, have to be on alert for people who get into trouble with the water. Young drivers might think it is fun to go through the puddles and make big splashes. They might learn how easy it is to lose control of a vehicle. People are often driving into water that is too deep for their vehicle. I once read that one of the biggest dangers in times of flooding is driving cars where they won’t go.

So be careful out there. We’re counting on you to stay safe. But get out of the car long enough to get wet and remember the feeling. By the end of the summer, I’m thinking we’ll want to remember what it is like.

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