Floods at the Ponds
In
February, 1996, Pullman had big floods because warm weather
quickly melted a lot of winter snow. The
creeks and streams in our town flooded. Roads
were closed and school was dismissed early so children could
get safely home. Sunnyside
School was a shelter where people could stay if their homes
were flooded. One
of the children in our class lives next to Sunnyside Park.
She gave our class a report that the small pond was flooding
part of the park.
We
sent email messages to our friends around the world on
I*EARN (International Education and Resource Network) to
tell them about the floods. Here
are some of our email messages. We
used our classroom computers to draft, edit, and publish the
email messages. Parent volunteers helped us with our
writing.
February 9, 1996 Dear Friends, There are bad floods in Pullman. Grand
Avenue was closed and Main Street was closed. On some
streets people had to put sand bags down to stop water
flowing. Sunnyside Pond was worse. Sunnyside Pond was really
overflooded!!!!!!! You wouldn't believe it. From Your Sunnyside School
Friend February 9, 1996 Dear Friends, In Pullman it flooded. They closed
Main Street because it flooded. We had to leave school at
2:15 the first day of the floods. I was excited and scared
at the same time. The water was high!!!!!in a lot of
places!!!!! Sunnyside Pond was flooded. In some places the
water is 3 feet high and rising. The snow is melting like a
foot a day. It got to 51 degrees one day. On the news they
said Pullman was one of the worst places that
flooded. From Your Sunnyside School
Friend Dear Friends, The flood is high and floods are too
cold to swim in. It is winter. Some people have to go and
sleep over at someone's house. The flood is too
high!!!!!!!!! from Your Friend at Sunnyside
School February 9, 1996 Dear Friends, We had a big flood. My Mom went past
Paradise Creek. It was really flooded!!! Me and my family
really want it to be summer. Not just the snow is melting.
It is raining so there's even more water. From Your Sunnyside School
Friend February 9, 1999 Dear Friends, We had to leave school early because
of the floods on the street. The people at school were
worried about the flood and the kids were worried too. We're
safe! From Your Sunnyside School
Friend February 9, 1999 Dear Friends, I wanted to let you know we are okay
in Pullman after the floods. We had so much flooding because
our subzero temperatures quickly chnaged to above freezing
and the rains began. Our winter snow was melted
so-o-o-quickly that many streets became flooded. We had to
dismiss school early on the worst day of the floods so
children could get safely home. Sunnyside School was
designated as a Red Cross Shelter and people have been here
to help others. Our class loaned our crayons, paper and
games to the Red Cross for children in families who needed
to stay overnight at the school. Other people brought
blankets. Some high school students helped with sandbags
downtown where the flooding was especially bad. Pullman is a
small community and at a time like this everyone helps each
other. All the families in our class are safe and in dry
homes. From, Mrs. Rennebohm
Franz
We received email responses from our
school friends on I*EARN. One of our teacher friends in
Porepunkah, Australia wrote: "We had just finished reading
[your email] and found that much was familiar. We
know that writing about things like this certainly helps. We
had floods here ourselves year before last. The children
were able to relate to the experiences we read and many
could tell similar tales about floods. Our floods made a
significant impat on the community as they are a rare event
for us. It is heartening to know that no matter where we are
in the world, the same sense of community, willingness to
help and care for each other is there. All the best from the
children, teachers and community of
Porepunkah"
After
the danger of the floods was over, the class went to the
park to see what had happened to the small pond.
At
the small pond, the water flowed over the banks and into the
grassy areas! This
picture shows you what the small pond usually looks like.
It
is a small pond but with the floods, it became a big pond!
Here is a picture of what it looked like when it
flooded.
The
small pond was so flooded that the blue sign at the edge of
the small pond and the bench where you can sit beside the
small pond were in the water. You can see the sign and bench
in the water in this picture.
Mr.
Davis, the City of Pullman Park Supervisor was there
checking on the ponds at the same time we were there. Here
he is talking to one of the park crew about the flooding of
the small pond.
Here
is a city person checking the small pond and the pump that
pumps water from the small pond to the waterfall up at the
big pond.
In
Spring, after the small pond returned to normal, there was
another problem. Because
of the flooding, there was lots of dirt and sand that
settled into the bottom of the small pond. The
dirt and sand clogged the drain and pipes that carry the
small pond water up to the waterfall. The
city needed to empty the small pond in order to clean the
drain and pipes. When
the city was draining the small pond, there was another
problem. There
were lots of fish in the small pond that couldn't survive
without the water. When
our class learned about the problem of the fish, we decided
to help. After
school one day, several children from our class who live
near the pond, and Mrs. Rennebohm Franz, and some parents
went to the pond with buckets to save the fish.
A
lot of the water had been drained from the pond and the fish
were crowded into the shallow water that was still there.
We
had to place boards across the mud of the pond bottom to get
to the pool of water where there were fish. We
collected the fish in buckets with water and carried them up
to the big pond where we released them. The
Mr. Alan Davis (the Parks Supervisor) and the City of
Pullman thanked our class for helping with the
fish.
***All documents on our classroom web pages are copyrighted. The text and images are for educational use only. Please honor the integrity and original ownership of all text, design and images. We request that you not replicate the webpage designs nor publish the images and text without permission. For permission contact Kristi Rennebohm Franz at kfranz@psd267.wednet.edu