Many hours flying in the Search and Rescue helicopter this afternoon. We evacuated 12 people from situations in which the water had trapped them, including several children. Our teams throughout Snohomish County rescued 30+ people total. Last I checked, the hovercraft crews were still out on the rivers. We’re all expecting to be at it again tomorrow as the rains haven’t stopped and the rivers aren’t even close to cresting yet.

I actually got wet today when we were flying with doors open on the Huey. My fellow crewchief suggested that we install rain gutters. Who knew that the water would pour in like that? It’s rare that we fly in such crummy weather, so it hadn’t occurred to me before. I must say that it was some of the sportiest flying I’ve experienced (hey, it made me gasp a couple of times when we got caught by gusts and spun sideways). Our pilots are awesome, though, and had no troubles.

This is looking at Steamboat Slough from the air ~ Katherine Jane is between those bridges. I shudder to think at the amount of debris headed her way (those were some frickin’ BIG trees I saw floating down the rivers!). She’s actually rolling quite a bit tonight, which is unusual. We typically don’t feel anything at all (remember: 66 tons. Takes a LOT to shift that around). Greg leaves in the morning and I’ll probably be out helping with missions as much as I can over the next few days.