FEMA gives flooding help to North Bend
November 25, 2009
By Dan Catchpole
Snoqualmie mobile home park to be demolished, residents relocated
North Bend neighborhoods and some Snoqualmie residents are getting a boost from the federal government to help with flooding. The Federal Emergency Management Agency is giving $750,000 to raise or buy out homes in high-risk flood areas to minimize future damage in North Bend.U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert, R-Wash., helped secure the money, which will be managed by the King County Flood Control District.
The flood district also received two grants worth a total of about $2.4 million to raise homes in the Snoqualmie River basin. About $900,000 will pay to elevate six homes and buy one in the Shamrock Park neighborhood, which borders North Bend. The rest of the money will pay to raise 15 homes in the upper and lower Snoqualmie floodplains.
“While we can’t stop flooding, this money will help us to provide a more comprehensive and efficient approach to mitigating and controlling its impact on people and properties,” said King County Flood Control District Board Supervisor Kathy Lambert, whose King County Council district includes North Bend.
Flooding is a part of life in Snoqualmie Valley, said Clint Loper, the county’s supervising engineer for the Snoqualmie River.
“We need to help people better live with flooding,” he said.
Unlike most rivers in Western Washington, the Snoqualmie River does not have a headwater dam to help control its flow.
Other ways, such as home elevations, have to be found to live with flooding, Loper said.
Two other capital improvement projects are under way in the flood district.
Improvements are being made to the South Fork levee system in North Bend.
The work is part of a multiyear, $7 million project that began in 2008 to refurbish five miles of levee system.
Segments of the Middle Fork levee system are being removed to increase the river channel’s capacity, which is expected to protect downstream residents.
FEMA has also obligated $1,118,672 in Hazard Mitigation Grant Program funding to the state to acquire the Riverside Mobile Home Park in Snoqualmie.
Program funds may be used to protect either public or private property, or to purchase property that has been subjected to, or is in danger of, repetitive damage, according to acting FEMA Regional Administrator Dennis Hunsinger.
“The goal of this project is to permanently eliminate the risk to people from flooding by purchasing repetitively flooded and substantially damaged properties, and relocating the current residents to new housing,” Hunsinger said. “The acquired structures will be demolished and the site restored and retained as permanent open space.”
FEMA is contributing 75 percent of the $1,441,563 total project cost. The Washington Emergency Management Division will administer the grant and pass the funding through to King County’s Water and Land Resources Division.
The grant will acquire the 20 mobile home spaces and other structures located within the FEMA-mapped floodway on the left bank of the Snoqualmie River. Washington State and King County will split the remaining 25 percent of costs.
The county submitted the project for consideration under the program to Washington state in the wake of the January 2009 floods, Hunsinger said.
“King County has a comprehensive flood hazard mitigation strategy and is working diligently to reduce flood risk,” he said. “Coupled with our other mitigation efforts, this project is one of the largest home acquisition projects in the Pacific Northwest to date.”
Dan Catchpole: 392-6434, ext. 246, or editor@snovalleystar.com. Editor Kathleen R. Merrill contributed to this story. Comment at www.snovalleystar.com.
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