In spite of all the rain we've had, the rivers have not, with a few exceptions, risen to unusual levels. With the denudation of hillsides by clearcut logging, runoff is unquestionably more of a threat than it was (though with reduced levels of logging and improved forestry practices, may even be marginally better than twenty or thirty years ago) but periods of high water brought on by heavy rain and snowmelt when a warm tropical front comes through have been normal ocurrences in the northwest since the end of the last glaciation, and steelhead and salmon evolved to handle it.