Great floods to remember

It is possible during a time of national divisiveness and despair that we as Americans can agree on one thing. You folks who were praying for rain can knock it off at any time.

The weather has gotten so bad it's even raining in Sequim, which of course you know is illegal.

It's not that I mind a little rain once in a while but you tend to get nervous when the old guy next door builds a really big boat and starts gathering animals two by two.

Flood stories are nothing new. People around the world have passed stories of the “great flood” down through the generations since the dawn of creation.  Every tribe on the North Olympic Peninsula has a story of a great flood.

It was first reported by the Quileutes. One evening as the sun set on the horizon, people noticed something that reached as far as the eye could see. It was a wall of water coming toward shore!

The Quileute gathered their possessions in canoes and tied the canoes together. Back in the day, the Quileute were known to launch a flotilla of a hundred or so war canoes.

It must have been one big long line of canoes all tied to the top of a huge spruce.

The water rose for four days. Some of the canoes broke loose in the flood. They floated east with no sun or land to guide them until they came to rest on the other side of the Olympics where they became the now-extinct Chimacum tribe.

Others floated south to become the Hoh tribe.

Up north the Makah or “People of the Cape” have a flood story. The water rose until Cape Flattery became an island. The water receded leaving whales and sea monsters stranded on dry land.

Then the water began to rise again.

The Makah got in their canoes and floated away. Many drifted north to Vancouver Island. As the water receded, canoe loads of people crashed into trees. Many lives were lost.

To the east along the Strait of Juan de Fuca the S'Klallam had a flood story with a difference. The S'Klallam had a warning that the flood was coming.  A man told them to build some strong canoes that would handle a storm. People said they would just walk up into the mountains if the flood came. He gave them another warning. Then it began to rain.

The rivers turned to salt water as the sea-level rose. Flooding creeks and rivers kept people from walking to higher ground. Some got away in their canoes with a supply of food and water. Only those that were able to tie themselves to the tops of the highest mountains were saved.

While clear evidence of these floods is obvious to any competent observer of geologic phenomenon, modern science has buried its head in an outdated plate-tectonic theory that just does not hold water.  A careful analysis of these prehistoric flood events shows they were caused by a great battle fought between Kwattee, aka,  the creator of the animals and the Thunderbird. The Thunderbird was a winged creature that must have been about the size of a 747. It caught whales in the ocean and flew them back into the mountains to eat them.

The fight between Kwattee and the Thunderbird lasted four days. It shook the earth and caused the waters to recede until the Strait of Juan de Fuca and Puget Sound were dry.

As the fight continued, the water came back and flooded the land. Then Kwattee killed the Thunderbird and the flood went away.

For which we give thanks to this day.