Finally swept away

I took the 600 mile drive from Dayton, NV to Portland on Tuesday - it took me about 10 1/2 hours to get here. It was raining in most of Oregon, but not bad coming through the rest of the way - I went up from Reno to Susanville, took Feather Lake north of Susanville and connected to 89 leading up to Mount Shasta. When I got here I found out I had assignments in south Washington State including Kelso and Longview. After the first day of assignments one of the associates here told me to check the news as I had more lined up for Longview - well it turned out that I5 flooded and after some checking up on it I realized it was just north of where I was working. A 20 mile stretch was shut down with no detour and no train service so it was pretty bad. I came back to Kelso the next day, and after appt #1 took a wrong turn on Rose Valley Road and went deep into a valley that led me right up to a raging brown river and one of those "water over the road" conditions that was a little intimidating, but in a somewhat panicky state I didn't know any better and waded through in the vehicle. It was only until the road narrowed to a one lane road, with a tree sliding down from a gradual mudslide taking up half of it that I realize I was completely lost. I managed a U turn in a narrow one lane road - probably backing up and coming forward close to 10 times with that nasty raging brown river just next to me, and crossed over one more time through the "water over the road" area, before I found someone there who told me I had veered off about 10 miles the wrong way. Thankfully I got out since I had the feeling that the Forest was swallowing me up - it was dark and ominous the way "Blair Witch Project" felt - no cell service, out in the middle of nowhere and with the rain coming down and that nasty brown river at the side of the road it was like the scene of a scary movie. Needless to say, the whole thing could have been avoided with a GPS unit and as my company was willing to reimburse I got one the next day and it has been a huge help. I saw another area the day before in Longview where a steep back yard was literally pouring water into a furnished basement, and as I waded through in my boots I told yet another person here that there is no flood coverage. I felt like I was in the middle of a rain forest, and also had the same "water over the road" areas there, and with some roads blocked off with flooding I wondered what it would be like to be trapped there with no way out. Sometimes they look like they are about to cry when I tell them. It's the hardest part of my job. Weather is starting to clear up and they may have the I5 ready to go soon.