PILOT ROCK — The lake that was the Pilot Rock Market parking lot had reverted to bone dry asphalt by Friday afternoon, though dirt still stained the lot where community members had helped scrape away inches of mud the day before.

Inside the market, volunteers continued with round after round of scraping, vacuuming and mopping the floors in an attempt to clear the residue left when Birch Creek flooded the area Wednesday.

Rick Aster, the store’s owner, couldn’t even get inside to assess the damage until Friday morning. When he did, he found that most of his goods had been untouched by the floodwaters.

In the end, it seemed the store’s cardboard displays were the only thing that had been ruined.

“It’s amazing, it’s absolutely amazing,” Aster said, trying but failing to hold back tears as he looked over the mud-stained aisles. “There were so many people coming down with excavators, sandbags, everything. If it weren’t for them, I don’t know what I would have done.”

The Pilot Rock community came together Wednesday and Thursday to sandbag and do its best to protect the city from the rising waters brought on by excessive rainfall in the region, and by Friday the community was shifting gears to help one another recover.

Aster only has three employees at the market, but they were joined by a handful of volunteers Friday as they tried to clean up the mess that was left behind.

“I love this community,” Aster said through tears. “I love this community so much.”

The recent rainfall reached record levels for the Pendleton area Wednesday. According to the National Weather Service in Pendleton, the area received 1.11 inches of rain on Wednesday, shattering the previous record for May 20 that was set in 1894 at 0.79 inches.

That rainfall, and more around the region, led to rising levels in rivers and surrounding streams, including the Umatilla, Walla Walla, John Day, Grande Ronde and Imnaha rivers.

It also rapidly increased the intake levels at the McKay Creek Reservoir, which peaked at around 5,000 cubic feet per second Wednesday night. The Bureau of Reclamation attempted to manage levels at the time by increasing outtake levels to 1,400 cubic feet per second on Thursday, according to a press release from the city of Pendleton. The federal agency began reducing outtake levels at 2 p.m. Friday.

The Bureau of Reclamation will monitor the reservoir’s levels throughout the weekend, the release stated, and it’s expected to return to usual levels for this time of the year by Tuesday.

Umatilla County was still assessing the damage Friday as the receding waters gave a more complete picture of the toll the flood had on the area.

In Pilot Rock, an approach to a bridge on West Birch Creek Road was washed away, leaving some residents unable to reach their homes. A pedestrian bridge near Southwest Second Street that spanned across East Birch Creek was completely wrecked by the elevated river and sat in a twisted mess of lumber on either side of the creek’s banks Friday.

Umatilla County Commissioner Bill Elfering took a trip to Pilot Rock on Friday to see some of the damage himself. He said another bridge on White Eagle Road appears to have suffered damage, though it may be repairable.

The National Weather Service extended a flood warning for western Umatilla County, particularly for Hermiston and Umatilla, through 5 p.m. Friday. While the rain had stopped, runoff from the Blue Mountains kept the Umatilla River flowing above its average levels.

But according to the Northwest River Forecast Center, all of the rivers in Umatilla County had fallen below flood stage by Friday afternoon.

Ultimately, Pilot Rock appeared to suffer the brunt of the floods. But while the damage left will take longer to recover from than the brief inundation of water, the community banding together has already sped up the process. After three days of closure due to the flooding, Aster said the Pilot Rock Market is on pace to open back up on Saturday.

“It’s Memorial Day weekend — people need a store where they can shop,” he said.