Marathon Cloudburst in Pasco

Photos & Text by Ernest Allen

On Monday, June 30th, 1997, from about 4:10 PM to 4:30 PM, the northwest part of Pasco, Washington had an enormous rainstorm. Around here, cloudbursts usually last only two or three minutes, but this was twenty minutes of very heavy rain. Twice during the storm, medium-sized hail was mixed in with the rain. It was the heaviest rainfall I've ever seen here in the desert. Several elderly people in the neighborhood who have lived in Pasco for over 50 years said that it was the heaviest rainfall they could remember.

Most of the large parking lot of a nearby grocery store was flooded to a depth of several inches. The water gathered to a depth of about three feet in Richardson Park, across the street from our house, covering most of the one block by two block area. But only five miles away it was a light drizzle.

All this rain in an area which averages about 6.5 inches of rainfall per year, with some years having only three inches. The table below has some snapshots taken during and after the rainstorm. Each of the JPEG images is between 12 and 21 KB.

Waves in the driveway and “water rapids” in front of a parked cars tire. The runoff produced WAVES in the driveway! Also note the “water rapids” in front of the car's tire (which was about six inches from the curb).
Giant raindrops making ripples In this photo the rain has lightened up a little, making it possible to see the ripples from the giant raindrops.
Richardson Park starting to fill

Here's a shot of Richardson park, taken from the edge of the carport. It's difficult to see in this photo, but the park was already starting to fill with water.

(The washed out portion is that way in the original print and no amount of adjusting the brightness, contrast, gamma, or RGB levels would bring out any detail.)
The park, about half full From under an umbrella (yes, some of us “desert rats” own umbrellas) one can see how the park was filling up despite the storm drains performing “to spec.”
Down to a light drizzle Cloudburst is over, down to a light drizzle.
Two cars approach Pearl Street Here, the same two cars as in the last photo creep into deeper water as they approach the intersection with Pearl Street.
Stalled car 50 feet north of Pearl Quick shot of a car stalled about 50 feet north of Pearl before we pushed it up the hill and out of the water.
Flooding increases

Flooding into the park increases. Note that the area immediately to the left of the grass is a sidewalk with a standard six inch curb.

N.B. All of the curbs in Pasco range from 5.9 to 6.8 inches, with a mean of 6.35 inches and a standard deviation of 0.18 inches—at least that's what the eleven-year-old next door told me.
Car at intersection's crown Ernest takes his daily constitutional. I've included this rather washed-out photo to show the car which is at the crown of the intersection. Also, note the high water mark on the lawn (thankfully not ours).
View east on Pearl Street, with the water backed up for about five blocks. Looking eastward on Pearl Street, the water is backed up for about five blocks, with both sidewalks covered for at least half that distance.
EGA looking down A bewildered desert rat wonders “What is all this wet stuff?”
EGA looking at camera “It's WATER!”
Children playing in water Children like to play in the neighborhood park, and a little rain wasn't going to stop them.
A half-submerged picnic bench Whatever floats your boat—or picnic bench. This happens to be the very bench at which we sat to watch the big fireworks display a few days later. Also, note the water which is still pouring into the park in the center background.
More kids playing in the water. More kids join in the fun!
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