Flooding in Juneau Alaska isn't much of a problem but I remember areas in the Willammette Valley in Oregon that periodically, almost routinely, flood. I knew one family that during the season kept their camper parked in the driveway loaded with gear for a quick getaway. One year it was especially bad just before Christmas, and the daughter of a friend of mine on her way to work was swept off a wooden bridge and taken downstream where her car lodged against a copse of trees. She climbed out a window and clung to the trees until her cries were finally heard several hours later and a rescue group reached her. Christmas gift packages were floating and swirling in her car.

In the link given above, there are some pretty names for a couple of creeks: White Clay Creek and Red Clay Creek. Are the clays so different then?