CURTIS — Pete Dykstra says it’s hard to believe three years have passed since the flood of 2007 turned the normally peaceful Lake Creek into an uninvited holiday guest that destroyed his home near the South Fork of the Chehalis River.
“The water came up so fast, it rose eight feet in about two hours,” Dykstra said. “We had no time to save most of our belongings and bring them upstairs, and before we knew it most of our stuff was gone.”
The two-story farmhouse on Curtis Hill Road was swamped, quite literally — as floodwaters receded, Dykstra and his wife Cindy were faced with the daunting task of cleaning massive amounts of mud from theirhome and throwing out most of their belongings. Clothes, furniture, historic photos and valuable heirlooms were all wiped out by the highest flood Pete Dykstra had ever seen.
“It was tough to deal with because I’d never seen the water that high here in my life,” Dykstra said. “Here’s your entire life just gone, and that’s just the house — I haven’t even begun to talk about what happened to my cattle yet.”
Not only was the lower portion of the Dykstras’ home decimated by the flood; right behind their home, more than 100 cattle lay dead, having drowned from the floodwaters they say rose so quickly they couldn’t do anything about it.
Farm equipment was damaged and the milking equipment in the barn ruined, essentially destroying the family’s livelihood.
No one could be blamed for skipping holiday celebrations in 2007, given the enormity of one of the greatest disasters to ever hit Lewis County.
For weeks, people’s lives revolved around recovering from the flood and rebuilding their lives, seemingly making celebrating a holiday that happens every year a low priority in the grand scheme of things.
But for the Dykstras, however, Christmas would be celebrated — and with more fervor and emotion than in years past.
“Enough was enough,” Dykstra said. “We were going to celebrate Christmas come hell or high water. The high water came, but still the only way I’m not celebrating Christmas is if I’m dead.”
And celebrate Christmas, the Dykstras did: the very first item they unloaded was a hand-crafted nativity scene Cindy Dykstra had made 30 years earlier and set up on the front porch every year since. Though 120 acres of farmland lay essentially ruined and their means of income was wiped out, the family still set up the display that graced the entrance to their home for three decades.
“We knew we had to start cleaning up, but we weren’t going to let the carnage around us ruin the holiday for us,” Dykstra said. “Christmas is Christmas, and the nativity scene brought a sense of calm to everything going crazy around us.”
A simple family tradition turned into something that became a symbol of normalcy, and to many, hope for the area many agree was hardest hit by the December 2007 flood.
Dykstra and his neighbors recall how many who spent time at his farmhouse to clean up, as well as drivers who passed by in the days and weeks to come, were brought to tears by a scene they described as “surreal.”
“Everyone had lost so much, because most people who live down here have their whole lives invested in the area,” said Gloria Koidahl, then-owner of the Curtis Store, less than a quarter-mile from the Dykstra residence. “We didn’t return for good after that weekend, but we passed by in the days afterward and saw the nativity scene and we just knew everyone was going to be okay.”
Koidahl and her husband Don moved to Napavine after the flood, having no desire to rebuild the store and eventually selling it off. Three years later, for Gloria Koidahl, the flood may as well have happened yesterday as the memories are still too hard to bear — after all, they both operated the Curtis Store for 25 years.
“It’s still really hard to talk about it,” Koidahl said, pausing for a few seconds before restarting. “It’s still one of the most beautiful places in the world, and it was just so hard to see so many good people hit so hard by a freak event.”
The Dykstras stayed around, and if one visits their farm today it’s a good bet they’ll see Pete, all of 67 years old, milking 60 cattle early in the morning until the afternoon.
Donors from all around the state of Washington provided him with milking equipment and machinery to get back up and running again, and he proudly showed off his new setup to The Chronicle earlier this month.
“It’s so much better now, but you never really do forget that day,” Dykstra said, with the sound of cattle lowing in the background. “It’ll stay with me for awhile, for sure. Losing a herd is tough to recover from, but we did it.”
And so did the nativity scene, well into its third decade of sitting in its prime location on the front porch facing Curtis Hill Road. Mary and Joseph hover over baby Jesus in the manger with ceramic animals gathered around — but for Pete Dykstra, the homage of the holiest of holidays continues to resonate as much more than a family tradition.
“I guess this set took on a whole new meaning and people never have been able to think of it as just a simple nativity scene,” Dykstra said. “Christmas is the biggest celebration of the year, and no flood, no amount of house damage or personal belongings lost can ever take that away. You can’t stop Christmas, no matter what.”
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Christopher Brewer: (360) 807-8235
