Salmon swim in streets and farmlands

NEAR SHELTON, Wash. (CNN/KOMO) - Fish could be seen crossing a Washington state road when a river overflowed and flooded the street.  

Chum salmon have been swimming hundreds of miles, but when floodwaters hit, the last few miles were the most challenging.

"This is always fun to watch,” said fisherman Josh Carlton. “These poor chum salmon have no idea that they're about a quarter-mile off course here."

It's a struggle under normal conditions, but having to navigate through farmlands and then up and over the roadways is a real challenge.

"I like it. It's pretty fun. It never gets old,” said Elijah Carrington, who was out with his dog Honey taking advantage of the situation.

"Yep, I like it,” said Carrington. “I make money off of it, so it's fun. My dad sells them for me."

As for Honey, she's just out for the sport of it.

"She brings them home, gives them to me -- brings them home for us," said Carrington.  

The residents along the Skokomish Valley are high and dry. Homes have mostly all been raised to keep out of the floodwaters -- though Carlton’s fish camp tent flooded out.

“So I broke the tent down; I broke the camp down and put it on top of my air mattress and proceeded to float my camp out to my truck,” said Carlton. “It was pretty crazy."

And now there's concern over water quality. The Skokomish tribe worries about fecal chloroform coming from animal waste with all the livestock around.

"And then that goes down into the estuary,” said Ron Figlar Barnes, with the Skokomish tribe.

That then can taint the oyster beds downstream. They're trying to work with farmers to keep livestock in areas away from the waterways -- areas now filled with salmon that are going to get stranded once the floodwaters recede.