Mapleton braces for flooding
MAPLETON, Ore. - What was once a pasture is now a large pond in the Saubert family's yard.
"I'm just hoping that it doesn't keep coming up," said Russell Saubert. "Everything in the field there is not supposed to be here."
Saubert has his eyes on the Siuslaw River watching as the water creeps closer and closer to his cattle. If it keeps rising?
"We'll have to open the fence line and take them up the highway to higher ground," said Saubert.
Across the river, the Vetter family surveyed its property.
"That's our riverbank there," said Carol Vetter. "It's under probably four or five feet of water."
The water came in very quickly.
"It just moves little by little," said Tom Vetter. "Next thing you know, boom it's there."
Huge branches, entire tree trunks and debris now clutter the river.
KVAL News asked residents if they ever get tired of all the flood watches and warnings.
"Yah," said Saubert. "It's definitely a little anxiety, you know with every rain storm especially with the snow in the hills right now."
But the Vetters said it's a small price to pay to live in paradise.
"It's just something we have to put up with every winter," said Tom Vetter. "And it's just something you have to deal with because the rest of the year it's beautiful here. We just love it."
