A river runs through it...

Cedar River - it runs through our little burg rather innocuously most of the year, except for yesterday, when the river was expected to crest the Wells Street and Williams Street Bridges at approximately 11 am, bringing traffic to a stop and a potential hazard for the neighborhood. But, miraculously, it didn't. The water held it's height (which was the fourth highest in the last near 20 years), maintained, and then today showed signs of having backed off substantially.
But the Williams Street bridge has to remain closed - and a log jam has been accumulating beneath it since yesterday. I was told by one member of the Parks Dept. (?) that they suspect that the original problem came from a few trees chained together for an upstream fish habitat, trees that are usually secured by some ecology blocks. But the river yesterday was at a high of 11,000 cubic feet of water per second and they came floating down and became lodged in the segmented structure of the bridge. They cannot be pulled out for fear of causing structural damage. "It may come down to a man in a wetsuit and a chainsaw." But that is only after the water recedes a tad bit more.
In the meantime, there have been more people out walking the river than I have seen since we had warmer weather, and I encourage you to come out and take a gander. You never know what you might see going by - inner tube, soccer ball, pet kennel (that's my personal head count). Wander down to the edge of Lake Washington, and maybe you can haul in a goodie or two - scavenging is just like recycling, just with bigger stuff.