Make that roaring water.
"I heard the water roaring. I looked outside and we were totally surrounded," she said Monday. "It seemed to be coming from everywhere."
Upstream less than a mile, a blocked culvert had forced the North Crow Creek water over Michel Road, a narrow county local-access-only dirt road serving 15 to 20 residences. Pablo Feeder Canal, a main irrigation diversion for the creek in normal runoff, parallels Michel Road at that point. Like North Crow Creek, it had been swollen by rainstorms that began last Tuesday and could hold no more.
Debris in the stream swept down the path of least resistance over Michel Road, then abruptly backed up at a one-lane wooden bridge over North Crow Creek, 100 feet or so from the Unruhs' back door. Unable to flow freely under the bridge, the water started rising in the couple's yard and soon was swirling just below the threshold of their door.
It was about 4 a.m., and the Unruhs debated what to do. They called Steve Stanley of the Lake County Office of Emergency Management, who put them on his to-do list for urgent early morning help. Then they packed some bags and prepared to move to a relative's home on higher ground if need be.
But instead of leaving Friday before dawn, they decided to wait it out. As a precaution, they slept in the living room of their ranch-style home, not in the bedroom closest to the water.
Nevertheless, said Unruh, "It's a very strange feeling to go to bed within 10 feet of a roaring river."
Stanley arrived after daylight, and arranged for a pump and a backhoe, which helped drain the water away from the house. Tribal workers arrived a little later and placed sandbags around the perimeter of the home - which helped immensely, Unruh said. Neighbors from all over, some armed with shovels, came to help however they could. Folks from the Unruhs' church, hearing of their distress, held a prayer vigil.
Somehow, the danger passed. The bridge washed out, but their neighbors across the bridge have other access out to a county road, and the Unruhs have direct access to a main paved road into Ronan. They weren't drinking tap water or using the toilet very often on Monday, and they have no flood insurance, because it was unavailable for that location.
But by Sunday, the water surrounding the Unruh home was draining. True, another inch and a half of rain fell Sunday afternoon. But by Monday, the yard outside and crawl space under their home were drying out. The worst seemed over, the house was still intact, and the dogs were at the door, ready to inspect visitors.
Even if more heavy rain arrives - as is expected Wednesday and Thursday - the debris that backed up North Crow Creek has been cleared out of the stream channel, so a crisis as severe as the weekend's is unlikely to occur, emergency workers said.
Three county road bridges remained closed Monday: East Post Creek, Eagle Pass and Rocky Butte. Delaney Road, St. Mary's Road, Allard's Road and Hillside Road also remained closed.
Normal midsummer flows on Crow Creek are about 20 cubic feet per second, according to John Plouffe, water master of the Flathead Irrigation Project's north division. "We would estimate flows at 600 cfs" during the weekend storms, he said. More accurate measurements were unavailable because the rain gauges either were underwater or washed away.
Several other families in the North Crow area were stranded over the weekend, as were families in the Mission-St. Ignatius area to the immediate south, said Curtis Matt, information officer for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes' Division of Fire. The Division of Fire served as coordinating headquarters for a joint CSKT-Lake County response over the weekend.
Workers filled washouts, graded roads, replaced a big culvert on Michel Road and responded to anxious inquiries from residents and the media.
Some families were without potable water, but no life-threatening emergencies occurred. Folks who had been displaced were offered shelter at the Boys and Girls Club in Ronan, arranged by the local Red Cross. But nobody took advantage of the offer, Matt said.
As of Monday evening, the emergency flood-response center at the Division of Fire was closing - at least temporarily.
Near St. Ignatius and Post Creek, several roads were washed out over the weekend, and at least one bridge was rendered temporarily impassible west of Ronan on a county road in the Rocky Butte area, Matt said.
Reservoirs held up fine in the Jocko area, and there was no major damage to Flathead Irrigation Project water-distribution systems.
Streams on the Mission Front from St. Ignatius in the south to Blue Bay on the east shore of Flathead Lake to the north overran their banks because of the locally heavy rain, causing at least minor damage to roadways, bridges and culverts.
On Montana Highway 35 between Bigfork and Polson, on the east shore of Flathead Lake, Hellroaring Creek and an associated small hydroelectric reservoir spilled over, causing some minor flooding in low-lying areas.
So did some unnamed streams along Montana 35 farther north.
Fred McElhenney was sitting in his 32-foot motor home watching television Friday afternoon at Montana Pines RV Resort about eight miles north of Polson when he looked out and saw the parking and picnic area out front had turned into a pond, and the pond was on the verge of becoming a lake.
"I moved the car out, but I wasn't thinking the water was going to go as high as the motor home," he said.
He was wrong.
The water rose at least 2 more feet over the ensuing 24 hours, and his motor home was still stranded with four tires in the water on Monday afternoon. The diesel engine was in the rear of the big vehicle and on the uphill side of the RV space, so it stayed above water and was probably not damaged, he said.
Two other recreational-vehicle parks along the east shore of Flathead Lake experienced high-water damage, and some parking and camping spots were still under standing water Monday afternoon.
No reliable damage estimates were available in any of the affected flood areas. But Matt said there likely would be a Federal Emergency Management Administration response.
On Montana 35, threats of a washout on roadside cuts along the steep east shore of Flathead Lake caused closure of the roadway over the weekend. Culverts were clogged by debris washed downstream by torrents of rain. The excess water ran under the road and washed out road fill on the lakeshore side of the road, but the asphalt roadbed remained intact.
By Monday morning, Montana Department of Transportation crews and contractors had shored up the roadway, cleaned out culverts and were filling slumps in the road's shoulder in disturbed areas.
The road was open for two-way traffic Monday, though delays can be expected because of heavy equipment working to repair the road.
Last week's rain brought the kind of gully-washer along the Mission Front you don't see in a generation or more, several local residents said.
Cheryl Unruh's rain gauge at her home along North Crow Creek measured 5 inches of rain between Tuesday and Saturday, and she watched as it took in another inch and a half Sunday afternoon.
Still, you meet a lot of nice folks when your house is sitting on a streambank and the water is up to your door sill.
"People were great," she said. "Three guys from up the road - I don't know their names - came down with shovels and waited for hours until there was something they could do. This place was Grand Central Station."
Reporter John Stromnes can be reached at 1-800-366-7186 or jstromnes@missoulian.com
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