Special Report: One year after the flood - Part II

Special Report: One year after the flood - Part II

Sherrie Meng is shown being rescued from her home on a float board in this November 2006 file image.

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Story Published: Nov 17, 2007 at 8:00 PM PDT

Story Updated: Nov 17, 2007 at 8:28 PM PDT

By Bob Heye and KATU Web Staff

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BRIGHTWOOD, Ore. – Fall rains have returned and so have reminders of floodwaters that swept down the Sandy River near Brightwood last November.

A year ago a logjam sent water cascading through Sherrie Meng's home.

Trying to rescue her pets and save treasured belongings - she was trapped. The only way out was to ride a float board across the rapids.

Meng remembers not getting scared until the float board she was on started to tip, and she realized she was tied to it.

"It's like 'OK. I'm sucking in all this water. I'm tethered to this board. (The rescuer) can get off but I'm tethered so if I go upside down, I could drown in my driveway,' " she remembered thinking.

While the cleanup is complete and the flood waters are long gone, they are not forgotten.

These days Meng is trying to sell her house for $850,000. When you ask her what has been more turbulent, the water that day or the bureaucracy since, she says fixing the house was but a minor headache compared to trying to work on the logjam created by the rising river.

The Mengs drew criticism for hiring a helicopter to haul out part of the logjam near their home. They say removing some logs makes everyone downstream safer.

They said a hydrologist they hired believes that even though the river channel near their home changed dramatically, the river will stay in its current channel.

They say the river might even return to its original stream-bed after this winter's storms.

But she also realizes the limited power anyone has to hold this sometimes powerful river in check.

"Mother Nature just kind of changes her mind and kind of moves things around, and it kind of goes back again," she said.

That's just part of life along the Sandy River, Meng said.

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