Clear weather during the night of Dec. 28 and the following morning allowed the water level to subside. The county closed its warning center by 9 a.m. Dec. 29.

That morning, the sum of the Snoqualmie River’s three forks was flowing at 12,010 cubic feet per second (cfs), which is just above the 12,000 cfs threshold for a Phase II flood alert level.

At this flow, only minor flooding can be expected, mostly in the lower Valley.

A Phase II flood alert level is the level of the county’s four-phase warning system at which the Flood Warning Center activates to monitor conditions.

County staff will monitor stream gages and weather reports, and will provide updated information on river conditions as necessary. Real-time river level information is available online at www.kingcounty.gov/flood.

As of 11:01 a.m. Nov. 23, most Western Washington rivers are cresting, and the Snoqualmie is expected to crest just below flood stage.

As of 6 p.m. Nov. 23, King County has issued a  provisional Phase 1 alert, with the caveat that no flooding typically occurs on Phase 1.

The National Weather Service flood watch stated a possibility of minor flooding exists Nov. 23 at night or Nov. 24 in the morning on the Snoqualmie River, as the crest moves downstream through the lower reaches.

The flood watch will remain in effect until early Nov. 24, and it will affect King, Lewis, Snohomish and Thurston counties. Clallam, Jefferson, Mason and Grays Harbor counties are no longer under flood watch.

A flood watch means a flood may happen but it’s not certain of occurring.

According to the King County website, at 5:30 p.m. Nov. 23 the sum of the flows on the Snoqualmie River’s three forks was 8,640 cubic feet per second.

At 6,000 cubic feet per second or Phase 1, the county issues an internal alert.

At 12,000 cubic feet or Phase 2, flooding may occur in the Valley’s lowlands.

At 20,000 cubic feet or Phase 3, flooding of varied depths occurs across the entire Valley.

At 38,000 cubic feet, some residential areas may experience dangerous high velocities and flooding of homes.

Check back often at www.snovalleystar.com. for further updates.

Sebastian Moraga: 392-6434, ext. 221, or smoraga@snovalleystar.com.

Construction workers dismantle a Puget Sound Energy building at Snoqualmie Falls as part of ongoing renovations. (Photo by Puget Sound Energy)

Work on the upper part of Snoqualmie Falls Park is nearly finished, two years after Puget Sound begin the restoration project. The design work for the redevelopment of the lower park is almost finished but that phase of the project has not started yet.

More work is underway that isn’t as apparent to visitors to the 268-foot waterfall. All parts of the $240 million project are still on track to wrap up by 2013, according to PSE spokesman Roger Thompson.

PSE is also restoring a former train depot and carpenter shop on the river’s west bank south of the falls. The utility company is also in the process of overhauling the heart of its operations at Snoqualmie Falls — two hydroelectric power plants that will generate about 54 megawatts of energy. That is a 20 percent increase over its existing production, which relies on turbines that are more than a century old.

Together the two plants provide energy to roughly 33,000 customers, according to PSE.

That number will jump to 40,000 after the project is finished.

Plant 1 was put into a cavern carved out of the bedrock below Snoqualmie Falls in 1898. It was the first underground hydroelectric facility in the world.

The power plant’s original owner, Charles Baker, and 35 men tunneled 250 feet into the bedrock below the falls. They needed only 16 months to complete the project, recording no fatalities in the process, according to local historian Dave Battey.

The more powerful Plant 2 came in 1910 and was expanded in 1957.

Today, a new crew is laboring to renovate and improve the cavern made by Baker and his men. PSE’s crew is expanding and modernizing the facility that will house new, more efficient turbines.

Workers have made good progress on dismantling existing structures to make way for the new ones, Thompson said.

Renovations designed for visitors

While the meat of the project is designed to improve the safety and efficiency of the facility’s operations, the park’s renovations, and the opening to the public of restored historical buildings on the river’s west bank, are aimed at the 1.5 to 2 million visitors who come to Snoqualmie Falls each year.

The renovated upper park is largely finished and open to the public. In addition to giving the area a more polished look and making it compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, the work also added interpretive information for visitors. The upper park’s lookout is scheduled to be finished this fall.

The lower park’s renovations will include a new hillside trail from the upper to lower park, a riverfront boardwalk, an interpretive area, a parking lot and improved river access, Thompson said.

Snoqualmie officials hope the renovations will draw more visitors into the city’s historic downtown, which is undergoing its own revitalization project about a mile to the south.

But not everyone is happy with the project.

Project’s detractors have nearly exhausted legal options

The Snoqualmie Valley Preservation Alliance — a group of residents from the lower Snoqualmie Valley — sued PSE and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to stop work on the project, specifically the removal of a diversion barrier across the river just before the falls. Removing the usually submerged wall would increase flooding for lower Valley residents, the alliance argued in its lawsuit.

The alliance asserted that PSE and the Corps used inaccurate models to determine the impact the work would have on downstream flooding.

The lawsuit was dismissed in March by the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled that the Corps had followed the proper permitting procedure. However, alliance members plan to appeal that decision.

The work at the falls has also drawn the ire of some Snoqualmie Tribe members. In June, a handful of members gathered beneath a soaring cedar tree to pray and protest the project. The work is further desecration of what the tribe considers to be the center of the world, tribal member Lois Sweet Dorman said.

The tribe lost its legal challenge to the renewal of PSE’s federal license to operate at the falls in 2008. The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals denied the tribe’s claim that the license, which is granted by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, put an undue burden on tribe members’ ability to freely practice their religion.

Since then, the tribe has collaborated with PSE on the renovation project. In 2010, the Tribal Council approved wording for interpretive information to be installed in the park.

Dan Catchpole: 392-6434, ext. 246, or editor@snovalleystar.com.

The Snoqualmie River was quickly rising and threatening to flood the area.

The 85-year-old woman moves deliberately with a cane. She and her live-in caregiver rounded up their cat and three lap dogs, and left for North Bend, where Nicholas’ son lives.

Lois Nicholas is waiting for the state and city of Snoqualmie to resolve a dispute over paperwork so her home can be elevated. In 2009, it was inundated with 18 inches of flood water. By Dan Catchpole

The river rose, inundating her home on Southeast Northern Street with 18 inches of flood water.

“The refrigerator in our garage almost floated out the door,” Nicholas said.

It was three months before she could move back into her home.

She still lives in the same house, about 100 yards from the river.

Nicholas applied for and was approved in 2010 by Snoqualmie for a home elevation that would be paid for by a hazard mitigation grant from the Federal Emergency Management Administration.

In March, she and a couple of dozen other households in Snoqualmie received letters from the city saying that their home elevations would be delayed.

The cause of the holdup is a dispute between Washington state and the city of Snoqualmie about documentation of costs.

The state’s Emergency Management Division could hold up nearly $4 million in two federal grants for home elevations in Snoqualmie. It has stopped payment on $229,624 from one grant that the city has already spent, and it could delay payment of a second grant worth about $2.75 million.

The money comes from the FEMA Hazard Mitigation Grant Program, but it is dispersed by the state. The money becomes available after the president declares a natural disaster, and local jurisdictions then apply for grants. Their applications must be endorsed by the state, after which they are sent to the federal government.

FEMA then reviews the applications and makes awards to the state to give to approved local jurisdictions. The state then draws up a contract between it and the local jurisdiction, which spells out the reimbursement process, timeline and scope of the work, and budget.

The dispute in Snoqualmie is over what records are needed to document contractors’ costs.

Beginning in August 2009, Mark Stewart, one of the state’s Hazard Mitigation Grant Program managers, became increasingly concerned that the documents provided by Snoqualmie did not adequately justify the costs.

Costs have to be documented in case of an audit by the federal or state government.

Stewart’s concerns are driven by one question: “Can they account for all their costs?”

In May 2010, Stewart stopped payment on a reimbursement request until Snoqualmie provided better documentation of contractors’ costs.

In a letter in early March to the city, Stewart said, “…a pattern emerges that demonstrates a lack of city involvement in the oversight of the project and its financial management as required by the grant agreements, federal regulations and mitigation program guidance.”

“The city’s lack of oversight and management of these projects is not acceptable,” he wrote.

Stewart explicitly said that completed work was not being questioned, simply that the paperwork to document the costs was incomplete.

It is not the first time the city of Snoqualmie has been called out by a state agency for weak financial oversight. In November 2010, the state Auditor’s Office issued a report that found the city had not adequately reviewed billing by consultants, which resulted in overcharges to some Snoqualmie Ridge developers.

There is no connection between the two, City Attorney Pat Anderson said. But the city is having internal discussions about how to bolster its financial oversight procedures.

The problem arose because the state changed the rules part way through the game, Anderson said in letter to FEMA in late March. “The ‘lack of documentation’ only is a problem due to [Emergency Management Division’s] changing views as to what it ‘needs’ to authorize reimbursement to the city.”

Since 1996, Snoqualmie has used the same method for documenting costs for reimbursement, which had been approved by Stewart’s predecessor, according to Anderson.

But Stewart said that he has communicated the needs for greater documentation since he first started working with the city on FEMA grants in 2009. He has been with the Emergency Management Division since December 2006.

It isn’t unusual to require more documentation with mitigation grants, but Snoqualmie’s pushback was surprising, Stewart said.

It was the first time he had ever asked FEMA to delay awarding a grant, though.

FEMA administrators declined requests from the city and the state to get involved in the dispute.

Both sides say they want to meet to find a solution to the problem, but no meeting has been set.

The state isn’t interested in punishing anyone, Stewart said. He just wants to make sure it is clear how tax money is spent.

“Can we resolve it?” he asked. “Certainly.”

The city and state will have to agree on exactly what documentation is required.

How long that will take and how it will delay the current grant is unclear.

Dan Catchpole: 392-6434, ext. 246, or editor@snovalleystar.com.

That constant dynamic has kept the King County Flood Control District busy since it was created in 2007.

But falling house prices threatened the district’s ability to collect taxes this year. A state cap on property taxes for newer taxing districts threatened to cut off its revenue.

A last minute deal with eight fire districts saved the district’s 2011 levy. But the flood control district was expected to face the same problem in 2012.

The state Legislature has granted the flood control district at least a temporary reprieve.

The House and Senate passed legislation March 4 to exempt the district from the state-imposed cap on property levies. Fire districts are also not limited by the cap, which limits the amount of combined property taxes to $5.90 per $1,000 of assessed value.

Most taxing districts, which include hospital and park districts, are maintaining their budgets while home values are falling. That means they have to take a bigger share per $1,000, which has pushed some up against that cap.

The flood control district will still be subject to a constitutional limit of property taxes of 1 percent — or $10 per $1,000 of assessed value.

“The district attends to critical health, safety and welfare needs of citizens,” Snoqualmie Mayor Matt Larson told the House Ways & Means Committee in February.

Flooding has devastated Snoqualmie time and again, causing economic and social damage.

“Incidents of domestic violence, divorce, and job and school struggles measurably increase due to the grinding and unending stress that families experience for days and months following a flood event,” Larson said. “Dissolved chemicals, such as fuel, sewage and fertilizers, contaminate flooded homes threatening the health of the most vulnerable.”

The flood control district has spearheaded efforts in the Valley to mitigate the fallout of flooding. Since its inception, it has paid for more than 50 projects on the Snoqualmie, Tolt and Green rivers. It also pays for the Flood Warning Center, which coordinates county response and information dissemination during flooding.

House gives less leeway

There are differences between the legislation passed in the House and Senate, which will have to be ironed out before the bill is sent to Gov. Chris Gregoire.

The Senate bill, which passed 44 to 2, completely exempts the flood control district from the tax cap.

The House, where opposition was stronger, gave the flood control district less leeway. The House bill sunsets the exemption after 2017, and an amendment offered by Rep. Ed Orcutt, R-Kalama, exempts only $0.25 from the $5.90 cap.

“We could live certainly with the amendment and if need be with the sunset, because we’re primarily concerned about the next five to six years,” said Kjris Lund, the flood control district’s director.

The district only collects $0.11 per $1,000, so it would not be affected by Orcutt’s amendment. Lund said there are no plans for increasing the amount.

In 2010, the district collected $35 million. It has requested $36 million in 2011.

The flood control district could look into taking out a bond to pay for projects, Lund said.

But “even without pro-rationing, we have had so many emergencies,” she said.

Problems with the Green River’s Hanson Dam have sucked up tens of millions of dollars in recent years.

Lund said she will ask the district’s board of directors to consider borrowing from other government entities.

Protecting Si View Parks District

The Senate’s bill also protects the Si View Metropolitan Parks District from the $5.90 cap.

The parks district and King County Public Hospital District No. 4, which supports Snoqualmie Valley Hospital, could have to split a cut of $0.30 per $1,000.

For the parks district, that means a loss of about $250,000, about one-eighth of its operating budget, according to Travis Stombaugh, the district’s director.

Without an exemption from the state cap, the parks district “will have to make cuts,” Stombaugh said.

State Sen. Cheryl Pflug, R-Maple Valley, submitted an amendment that lets the parks district ask voters to protect its levy from the $5.90 cap. Pflug represents Snoqualmie Valley and other parts of east King County.

Dan Catchpole: 392-6434, ext. 246, or editor@snovalleystar.com.

King County used county, state and federal money to buy the 20 mobile homes and other structures in the park.

It was one of the largest home acquisition projects in the Pacific Northwest to date, according to Dennis Hunsinger, the regional administrator for the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The project cost more than $1.4 million. Seventy-five percent of the money came from FEMA’s Hazard Mitigation Grant Program, while the state and county contributed the difference.

The trailer park sat in the FEMA-mapped floodway and was regularly inundated with water when the nearby river overflowed its banks.

Following the January 2009 flood, King County submitted the site for acquisition under the FEMA program.

Buying out properties that are routinely flooded is part of the county’s strategy for flood mitigation for Snoqualmie Valley.

Unlike most major rivers in Western Washington, the Snoqualmie River has no headwater dam to help control flow. As a result, the Valley regularly floods.

Rather than fight flooding, the county tries to minimize its effects, said Clint Loper, the county’s supervising engineer for the Snoqualmie River.

Two major elements of this approach are buying out or elevating homes at risk of flooding.

Snoqualmie is currently waiting on federal approval for three grants submitted to FEMA to pay for 41 house elevations, according to Lauren Hollenbeck, a senior planner for the city.

After the January 2009 flood, the city submitted an application for a $2.75 million disaster assistance grant to help raise 25 houses. Hollenbeck said she expects to hear more about that grant by next month.

In October, the city also applied for two grants worth a combined $1.7 million from FEMA’s Flood Mitigation Assistance Program to help raise 16 houses.

“I don’t expect an answer on that for some time,” Hollenbeck said.

Rhynalds, a member of WSDOT’s road maintenance crew based in Preston, had been called out to help close roads due to flooding in Snoqualmie Valley. The 12-year veteran of the department had gone to set up traffic cones to keep drivers away from downed power lines when a cottonwood fell and hit him in his truck. 

“I am so proud of him, because all he ever wanted to do was help other people,” his sister, Candi Smith said. “That’s what he was out doing last night.” 

A resident of North Bend, the 65-year-old Rhynalds was born June 11, 1945, to Billy and Melba Rhynalds at the Snoqualmie Falls hospital. He and his eight siblings grew up in Snoqualmie. After graduating from Mount Si High School, Rhynalds joined the Washington National Guard. Later he worked for Weyerhaeuser before joining WSDOT in 1998. 

Outgoing and affable, Rhynalds loved to talk with friends and strangers, alike, relatives said.

“He’d always make you feel good,” Smith said. “We all know someone like that — you meet and instantly you just want to be friends.”

Rhynalds met some of his closest friends for coffee everyday at 4:30 a.m. at the truck stop in North Bend. The staff at the diner where they met took the news of his death hard, said his wife, Betty, who went by to tell them Monday morning.

Rhynalds lived for his family. He and Betty have two children and several grandchildren. 

“The joy was his family, his children, his grandchildren. He liked gathering everyone around him, making sure everyone was happy,” Smith said.

Each Christmas Eve, Rhynalds would invite dozens of friends and family to his home. He was carrying on a tradition started by his father decades before.

He was a loving father, said his daughter, Aimee Sherrill. ”You could tell him anything; he’d understand.”

Every year, he would take his grandchildren to local fairs from Enumclaw to Puyallup. 

Rhynalds also enjoyed fishing, hunting and going to garage sales. 

Rhynalds was dedicated to his job, Betty Rhynalds said. 

He kept delaying his retirement because “he liked being involved,” she said.

He was always ready to do whatever was needed. He’d often take the phone into their bedroom so he wouldn’t miss a call from work in the middle of the night.

Whenever he was called, he “would always say, ‘Wherever I’m needed, just let me know’,” his wife said.

His supervisor called Sunday evening, asking him to help close roads. As he did every time before, he didn’t hesitate to go help others. 

Rhynalds is the 59th WSDOT worker to die on the job. The last fatality was Myron “Neal” Richards, of Sequim, who died Nov. 19, 2009.

Rhynalds is survived by his wife, Betty; his daughter, Aimee Sherrill; his son, Darin; his brothers, Mickey, Greg and Randy; his sisters Paula Corner, Vicki Prien, Dixie Hoffart, Candi Smith and Sheila Simpson; and several grandchildren, nieces, nephews, grandnieces and grandnephews.

No arrangements have been made yet. Information on arrangements will be available from Flintofts Funeral Home and Crematory online at www.flintofts.com or by calling 392-6444.

By mid-afternoon Friday the sum of the river’s three forks was 15,470 cubic feet per second. The threshold for flood phase two is 12,000 cfs. Stage phase is 20,000 cfs.

The Snoqualmie River is expected to crest Sunday morning at just above 23,000 cfs, according to the National Weather Service Northwest River Forecast Center. That is well below the nearly 30,000 cfs recorded during the Dec. 12-13 flooding.

King County opened its Flood Warning Center on Thursday in response to flooding along the Tolt River in the lower Snoqualmie Valley.

King County residents and business owners can sign up to receive King County Flood Alerts at www.kingcounty.gov/flood, or by calling 206-263-3400 during business hours. Messages of potential high flows on any of King County’s major river systems can be sent by phone, text or e-mail.

A recorded flood-information hotline is also updated each hour for citizens wanting information in flood areas. The number is 206-296-8200 or 1-800-945-9263.

Information on road closures is available at www.rpin.org.

Many areas across the county experienced landslides or flooding Dec. 11-12, but damage to life and property remained at a minimum.

“The damaged homes in King County that were seen in the news were not among those that have been permitted or built in the last 10 years,” King County Executive Dow Constantine said in a statement. “Policies to limit construction on steep slopes and protections for flood hazard areas are doing a better job of making our homes and neighborhoods safer and more resistant to damage from severe weather.”

Though the Snoqualmie River crested Dec. 12, the risk from landslides lingered for days after the flooding.

County flood hazard regulations focus on protecting public health and safety and limiting development, so as not to exacerbate downstream flood hazards.

King County is the highest-rated county in the nation under the National Flood Insurance Program’s Community Rating System. The rating qualifies unincorporated area residents for a 40 percent discount on flood insurance. North Bend and Snoqualmie also participate in the program, and city residents can receive the discount. Snoqualmie routinely files among the highest number of flood insurance claims each year, according to King County officials.

The executive also recognized residents for preparing for flooding and other emergencies.

“You don’t need to be a ‘first responder’ to respond to your own emergencies,” Constantine said. “By simply learning about your risk, signing up for flood alerts, packing a preparedness kit and not driving on a road that’s covered with water, you’re doing your part to contribute.”

Contact county assessor about flood damage

King County Assessor Lloyd Hara has urged residents to contact the Department of Assessments about damage from the Dec. 12 flood. Call the agency at 206-296-7300 or go to www.kingcounty.gov/assessor.aspx. In order to file a destroyed property claim, residents should complete a King County Destroyed Property Form on the website.

A late-fall Pineapple Express system pushed the Snoqualmie River above its banks in many areas Dec. 12, menacing homes, businesses and roads.

Officials from North Bend and Snoqualmie have not yet determined the extent of property damage in the days after floodwaters receded.

Warren Kagarise: 392-6434, ext. 234, or wkagarise@isspress.com.

The Snoqualmie Valley Preservation Alliance is suing the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Puget Sound Energy for work on the Snoqualmie River at the falls, where PSE maintains a hydroelectric plant. The association said that inaccurate models were used to determine the impact two projects at the falls would have on downstream flooding.

The corps ignored a directive from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to analyze the downstream effect of a river-widening project, according to court documents filed as part of the alliance’s lawsuit.

“Our ultimate goal is a plan that wouldn’t help one area with flooding just to push it downstream,” alliance President Geary Eppley said.

The corps would not comment on the litigation, but is challenging it in court.

The alliance “raises issues regarding flooding impacts that were thoroughly considered and resolved,” the corps said in a motion filed in response to the alliance’s lawsuit.

The corps maintains that it conducted “reasonable analysis.”

PSE does not have concerns with the corps’ work, PSE spokesman Roger Thompson said.

The lawsuit was originally brought against only the corps, but PSE asked to join as co-defendant.

“Since the litigation was being aimed at our project, we wanted to be present to be able to enter information,” Thompson said.

PSE and the corps admit that the projects will increase flood levels in the lower Valley.

“The studies that have been done all indicate that in a 100-year flood, there would be a quarter to one-third inch increase,” he said. “Granted that is an increase, and I understand the concern people who live in the floodplain have.”

But the effect would likely be minimal, Thompson said.

The alliance said the effect is underestimated because the model used is outdated.

The model, which dates from the 1980s, “was for a flood control project that was substantially different” from the contested projects, said floodplain engineer Edward McCarthy in a statement filed with King County District Court in support of the alliance’s lawsuit.

A new model needs to be built to determine the impact of past and future work, McCarthy said in the court document.

In addition, the alliance wants the corps to evaluate downstream effects with a study of the entire Snoqualmie River basin, which stretches from the source of the river’s three forks to where it flows into the Snohomish River.

Positive upstream improvements

While the downstream impacts are contested, the work has helped in Snoqualmie.

The falls has historically been a bottleneck for the upper Valley, causing water to back up and increasing flood levels in Snoqualmie. Widening the river at the falls in the Snoqualmie 205 Project eliminated that bottleneck.

“Certainly in the city of Snoqualmie, it reduces the flood level,” said Clint Loper, King County’s supervising engineer for the Snoqualmie River basin.

The project was estimated to drop flood depths by more than a foot in some areas and prevent about $837,000 in annual flood-related damage, according to the county’s website.

It isn’t the only project that has been helping upper Valley residents stay dry.

Snoqualmie is almost finished dispensing two grants to help pay for elevating houses above flood levels. The grants came from the Federal Emergency Management Agency after flooding in 2006 and 2007.

The two grants, about $2.5 million, helped pay to raise 23 houses.

Snoqualmie has applied for two additional grants, but has not been approved or denied, according to Lauren Hollenbeck, a senior planner for the city.

After the January 2009 flood, the city submitted an application for a $2.75 million disaster assistance grant to help raise 25 houses.

In October 2010, the city also applied for $1.7 million from FEMA’s Flood Mitigation Assistance Program to help raise 16 houses.

King County has used FEMA money to help pay for house elevations around the Snoqualmie Valley as well.

Dan Catchpole: 392-6434, ext. 246, or editor@snovalleystar.com.

Their car, a Nissan Pathfinder, had stalled in three to four feet of water from the swollen Snoqualmie River, which runs alongside Reinig Road.

Firefighters arrived after receiving a 911 call at 3:32 p.m.

The father and daughter were sitting on the SUV’s roof when firefighters arrived, Capt. Mike Geppert said.

With water up to the car’s windows, the SUV had started drifting toward the river.

“The car was only 10 or 15 feet from the river current,” Geppert said.

Had it reached the current, the situation would have become much more dangerous, he said.

Firefighters reached the car before that happened. They carried the daughter and escorted the father to dry land.

The car was later towed from the water.

The man told firefighters he had driven down the road because there were no road-closed signs.

“So, he continued further and further on down the road, getting deeper and deeper into trouble,” Geppert said.

The road was closed after the rescue.

Geppert cautioned people from driving through standing water on a road.

“You don’t know what’s underneath it. You don’t know if the road’s been washed out,” he said.

Dan Catchpole: 392-6434, ext. 246, or editor@snovalleystar.com.

A record amount of rain fell in the Puget Sound area Dec. 12, swelling the Snoqualmie River to flood stage. But while the river ran high, little damage has been reported, according to city and county officials.

The rain came in on the “Pineapple Express,” a weather phenomenon that brings precipitation and warmer temperatures from the Pacific to the Northwest.

King County issued a flood stage 3 alert for Snoqualmie River on Dec. 12. The highest alert level is 4.

Eastside Fire & Rescue pulled to safety one person who had become trapped on Reinig Road, where the river flooded the roadway. Snoqualmie Fire Department assisted in the rescue.

In the upper Snoqualmie Valley, there little damage had been reported by Dec. 13, except for a handful of flooded streets, which were closed.

“We dodged a bullet on this one, so far,” said Ron Garrow, director of North Bend’s Public Works Department.

The city closed a section of Mount Si Boulevard near the Safeway grocery store after Ribary Creek overflowed, flooding retention ponds in the area.

King County Roads Services closed a section of the nearby Ribary Way Southeast.

Any time water overruns a roadway, it can be dangerous, Garrow said.

Fast-flowing water can undermine its base. Even driving on a saturated roadway can damage it.

“We don’t really have high-flowing water through there, but we do have a high volume of traffic, so we tried to close it down quickly,” Garrow said of Mount Si Boulevard.

While little damage had been reported immediately after the storm passed, it was “definitely a significant flood event,” said Clint Loper, King County’s supervising engineer for the Snoqualmie River basin.

More rain fell north of King County, but several records for most rain on Dec. 12 were set in the county, according to the National Weather Service’s Seattle office. Renton, the closest measuring station to Snoqualmie Valley, received 1.92 inches Dec. 12, well surpassing the previous record for the date of 0.58 inches set in 2002.

Dan Catchpole: 392-6434, ext. 246, or editor@snovalleystar.com.

The Snoqualmie River is forecasted to reach flood levels on Sunday, Dec. 12, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association.

However, the forecasts are subject to change — meaning more or less rain could fall earlier or later.

“We may have moderate flooding on the Snoqualmie, but there is quite a bit of uncertainty about how much rain will fall, so it could change,” said Ken Zweig, of King County’s River and Floodplain Management Section. “It looks like most of the rain will be coming in Saturday to Monday.”

The situation should become clearer by Saturday, he said.

Based on NOAA’s current forecast, the river is expected to reach flood stage three, which includes widespread flooding, especially in Lower Snoqualmie Valley. Roads in danger of being overtopped or closed include Fall City-Carnation Road, Tolt Hill Road and Novelty Flats Road. All are in the lower Valley.

The National Weather Service has not issued a flood warning yet.

King County issues flood alerts — not warnings — based on actual — not forecasted — river level data. 

• King County flood information: www.kingcounty.gov/environment/waterandland/flooding.aspx

Less than one day into flood season, a swollen Snoqualmie River triggered a Phase II flood alert from the King County Flood Warning Center.

This winter is expected to be a La Niña one. That means it will be wetter and colder than most winters with an increased chance of flooding along the Snoqualmie, according to forecasts by the National Weather Service.

La Niña conditions occur when ocean temperatures around the equator in the Pacific are colder than usual.

Late in the evening Nov. 2, the sum of the Snoqualmie River’s three forks totaled 12,260 cubic feet per second. That is just above the 12,000 cubic-feet-per-second threshold for a Phase II flood alert level on the river.

The flow level decreased a few hours later.

No damages were reported in Snoqualmie or North Bend.

A major storm could hit the Puget Sound region next week, dumping heavy rain on the area. The Snoqualmie River Basin is expected to miss the worst of it, according to forecasts by the National Weather Service.

The heaviest rain is expected to hit the Olympic and North Cascade mountains, said Dennis D’Amico, a Seattle-based meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

A massive, moist low-pressure front is headed for the area from Asia following the traditional Pineapple Express path.

The source is a typhoon in Asia, according to Cliff Mass, a University of Washington meteorologist.

“The monster storm, huge in scale and possessing hurricane force winds, will produce giant waves — greater than 50 feet high,” he writes on his blog.

Mass predicts the North Cascades and Olympics could receive 5-10 inches of rainfall on Tuesday.

Based on weather models, the storm isn’t likely to shift location, D’Amico says. “We’re not expecting flooding” in the Snoqualmie River Basin.

Accuracy for forecasts increases significantly as time gets closer to the event, and the National Weather Service will continue monitoring the storm’s progress, he says.

This winter is expected to be a La Nina year, which is more likely to be wet and cold. That means increased risk of flooding along Snoqualmie River.

For updates on flooding, visit King County Flood Warning System.

Dan Catchpole: 392-6434, ext. 246, or editor@snovalleystar.com.

La Niña typically means a cold, wet and snowy winter for the Puget Sound area. For residents, like Huber, living along the Snoqualmie River, it means a greater likelihood of flooding.

Huber lives in the Shamrock Park neighborhood outside North Bend. The South Fork of the Snoqualmie River wraps around the little cluster of houses. It is one of the few areas on the river that still has a levee, which runs through Huber’s backyard.

The earthen levee hasn’t stopped Shamrock Park from flooding regularly during the past 20 years.

“You come home to the midst of chaos,” Huber said, describing efforts of her and neighbors in previous years to save what they could from floodwaters. “You’re frantically lifting up as much as possible.”

Tired of tearing out flood-soaked carpeting and sheet rock every few years, Huber decided in July to let FEMA buy her property. However, the value that was offered to her was well below a private appraisal she had done. The two sides have not been able to settle on a price for her house, so Huber, her two children and two dogs are getting ready for another flood season.

La Niña is a weather phenomenon that increases the likelihood of a cold and wet winter in the Pacific Northwest. It does not mean that the winter will definitely be colder and wetter than usual but that potential is higher.

The phenomenon is the counterpart of El Niño, which tends to produce warmer, drier winters.

In between the two are neutral years.

“The bottom line is … La Niña winters tend to frequently produce flooding,” said Ted Buehner, a Seattle-based meteorologist with the National Weather Service. “Not all La Niña winters cause flooding, but many do.”

Some of the worst flooding in recent years came during La Niña — 2008-2009, 1998-1999 and 1995-1996.

La Niña is rooted in the central Pacific Ocean. Water surface temperatures are cooler than normal in a La Niña year. This change keeps the Jet Stream over the Pacific Northwest for more time than usual.

“So, we tend to get more storms more often,” Buehner said.

The conditions can also cause more lowland snow and windstorms, in addition to flooding.

“The screaming message is be prepared for one or more flooding events on the Snoqualmie and the Tolt” rivers, he said.

For Huber, it means another year of waiting for the water to come.

“What I want is out of this neighborhood. I’m tired of flooding,” she said.

Bailey Polson stuffs his face with cherry pie during the pie eating contest at the Festival at Mount Si. (File photo)

The past year saw many changes for Snoqualmie Valley. The economic recession permeated everything and was a constant running theme in news coverage. It put a damper on North Bend’s centennial year, which was supposed to see the city finally get some of the development money that had gone to Snoqualmie during the previous decade.

Snoqualmie schools felt the recession’s pinch as well, and had to get more from less.

From funding to floods, here is a wrap up of the year’s top news stories.

Economic recession

Few expected it, but almost no one failed to notice the collapse of the housing market, an industry which had fueled Snoqualmie’s economic boom in the last decade. New housing starts and sales stopped, which dried up tax revenue to the city. Foreclosures became a common occurrence on Snoqualmie Ridge, and still continue at a steady pace, according to BlockShopper.com.

As the credit, housing and job markets faltered, customers — and consumers across the nation — started saving their pennies, and local businesses were hit hard by the drop in demand. The U.S. personal savings rate — the amount of after-tax income saved — shot up from the 1 percent to 2 percent of recent years to nearly 5 percent as of November. The Factory Stores in North Bend saw their business decline, but not as badly as full-price retailers. Phillips Oral Health shipped half of the 150 jobs at its facility on the ridge to China. Snoqualmie Casino’s first year was hampered by the down economy, as well.

But amid all the bad news were some bright spots, including the opening of a distribution warehouse by Genie in North Bend.

January floods

The year began with record high flows of water at some points on the Snoqualmie River and its three forks. The flooding devastated Snoqualmie Valley along its entire length. North Bend suffered less widespread damage, but individuals in and around the city suffered considerably.

Valley resident continue to live with flooding. Home elevations continue across Snoqualmie Valley, as people try to stay above the water.

Some residents were concerned that this flood closely followed several other large flows. However, scientists with King County and the University of Washington said there is no definitive trend based on empirical evidence. It is quite possible, according to a King County hydraulic engineer, that episodes of heavy flooding are normal, but predate the period of reliable records. It is also possible, he said, that the floods could be the result of climate change.

North Bend ends

building moratorium

The North Bend’s city leaders showed in 2009 they are serious about investing in the city’s economic future.

After more than 10 years of a building moratorium, North Bend lifted it once and for all on April 7. The city had developed an innovative solution to the water shortage which had prompted the ban. The well was named the Centennial Well since it was completed in 2009.

The effect, though, was a whimper more than a bang. The tight credit market and recession had sapped the residential housing market’s energy and left developers unable to finance projects.

Nonetheless, the city’s work wasn’t all for naught. It is now ready to reap the benefits of an improving economy. It will mean more jobs for residents and more revenue for the city, according to city officials.

In a related story, North Bend joined 14 other municipalities, including Snoqualmie, and entities in East King County to collaborate their marketing efforts in the tourism industry.

Also, the city embarked on a branding campaign to give better focus to future development. City officials have said they hope to use the branding effort to help make North Bend into an outdoor recreational destination.

School bond passes

After three failed bond attempts, Snoqualmie Valley School District officials were feeling pressure to pass a stripped down list of “must have” repairs and upgrades. Gone was a second high school, and its hefty price tag. The bond was for $27.5 million.

Valley voters came out in strong numbers to pass the bond overwhelmingly.

While the bond’s passage addressed much needed repairs, it didn’t address more long-term questions, such as solving the district’s projected overcrowding problem. The district is still wrestling with that question.

 North Bend’s Tanner Annex

It took 100 years for North Bend’s population to pass 5,000, which it did this year when it annexed the Tanner neighborhood. The addition brought an estimated 888 residents and several businesses into the city. The tax revenue from the addition helped offset falling sales tax revenue, which was down due to the recession.

North Bend also had to add two new City Council seats, expanding to a seven-seat council, as required by state law.

After a lengthy selection process, the council appointed Jeanne Petterson and Chris Garcia to the seats.

School district cuts budget

When the economic recession dried up Washington state’s tax revenue streams, the state had to slash its budget to avoid a deficit, which it cannot carry. Public education, the state’s largest single expenditure, took a large portion of the cuts.

In Snoqualmie Valley, an already lean district had to get leaner. But the district was able to retain all of its academic programs, with the exception of librarians and media specialists in libraries at the high school and most middle schools.

The cuts sparked heated debate among parents, teachers, administrators and students about what the district’s spending priorities should be.

The school district’s conservative budgeting in previous years helped it minimize the effects of the cuts. But several teaching, custodial and administrative positions had to be cut.

The cuts, which were passed onto every school district in Washington, made public school funding a hot button issue. The state constitution states that public education should be the state’s first spending priority. Critical parts of the state’s funding model hadn’t been updated since the 1970s, so as a result, the state pays for a curriculum based on standards over 30 years old.

The outcry prompted state lawmakers to pass legislation that updated critical parts of the state’s funding, specifically what it defined as “basic education.” They opened the door to reform of the public education funding model, but it remains unclear whether or not they’ll step through the door they opened. No money has been allocated to pay for the new definition of basic education. 

Federal court rules in tribe banishment case

A local intra-tribal power struggle produced a legal precedent on April 30, when a federal judge ruled that the Snoqualmie Tribe had violated the right to due process of nine tribe members it banished in 2008. The ruling expanded the reach of federal courts into areas of tribal jurisdiction, in certain circumstances.

During the suit, the tribe argued that it had the sole authority to determine membership and punish tribe members, because of the tribe’s sovereignty. The banished tribe members argued that they did not receive adequate notice of the banishment proceedings, nor did they have an opportunity to defend themselves from the banishment.

The judge ordered that the nine banished members be reinstated, and a vote by the general membership in September approved ending their banishment. Yet, within a few weeks the nine members received letters from tribal officials telling them they were on probationary status and that the ban could be reinstated. 

North Bend’s Centennial

Despite the gloomy economic news, North Bend kept up a festive feeling the entire year, which saw various projects, events and celebrations in honor of the city’s founding in 1909.

Dan Catchpole: 392-6434, ext. 246, or editor@snovalleystar.com.

Part 3 of 3

Sara Posey (left) and Matt Hedger, with Snoqualmie City Parks, unclog a storm drain Nov. 13, 2008, as post-flood clean-up starts. Behind them, Snoqualmie Elementary School is still closed. (Photo by Ken Lambert/The Seattle Times)

The communities of Snoqualmie Valley have persevered despite heavy floods. The inhabitants are invested in their neighborhoods and don’t want to leave the area’s beautiful setting. Now, the residents and local municipalities with King County’s help are learning how to live beside wild rivers prone to seasonal flooding.

Together, they are finding a way to coexist with the river.

For many the answer is elevating their houses. More and more homes in Snoqualmie and North Bend have been raised up in recent years. The sight of a house sitting on stacks of logs as it is being elevated is not uncommon around the upper Valley.

Finding a way for people to live and work on floodplains is critically important to Snoqualmie Valley residents and King County, which has major economic interests on floodplains. This is especially true along the Green River, where much of the county’s manufacturing base is located.

Rising above it

Don and Nancy Ekberg are breathing easier perched high and dry in their recently raised house in Snoqualmie. (Photo by Dan Catchpole)

Snoqualmie residents are interested in house elevations, according to Lauren Hollenbeck, a senior planner for Snoqualmie.

“People don’t want to move. They want to stay and get their homes elevated,” she said.

After the 2006 flood, around 90 residents applied to have their houses raised, while only 12 applied to have their homes bought out.

Don and Nancy Ekberg are happy to be able to look down on their yard from their front door now that their house has been elevated a full story.

After buying their home in Snoqualmie, it was flooded in 2006 and 2009. It was devastating for them.

The Ekbergs applied to have their home raised after the 2006 flood. They had to wait more than two years for the elevation, and in January 2009, their house was inundated with much higher floodwater than in the previous flood.

Once work started last summer, it only took the contractor, Roswold, Inc. of North Bend, about five weeks to complete.

Ekberg takes the delay in stride, chalking it up to “bureaucratic backlog.”

While contractors worked on their home, the Ekbergs slept in a camper.

“We used to walk up four steps, now we go up 15,” Nancy said as she smiled.

The home elevation has brought peace of mind.

“If we hadn’t been raised up, I would’ve walked away—screw my credit,” Ekberg said.

The elevations are “extremely cost-effective,” Hollenbeck said. “They’re easier to get funding for than if you’re dredging the river or something like that.”

The bulk of the money comes from the federal government and is managed by FEMA. Communities must compete for the money, except for some federal grants like the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program. The grant is available to cities after floods.

“It’s easier to go after because it’s not nationally-competitive,” Hollenbeck said.

Since the 1980s, around 120 homes in Snoqualmie have been elevated or built as elevated by the city and homeowners.

Home elevations are effective in part because the Snoqualmie River’s floodwaters are generally not fast moving. If they were, even raised houses would be at risk of having their foundations’ undermined.

Snoqualmie Valley residents typically have a day or two warning of impending flooding.

“For two days, you’re sitting there, waiting for your house to get flooded,” he said.

After the floods, the mental and emotional stress of having to put their lives back together took a toll as well. Besides the quantifiable damages to their house and possessions, there were potential irreplaceable losses as well.

After the 2006 flood, Junior, one of the Ekbergs two cats, was nowhere to be found. The white and gray cat was only a kitten at the time. Three weeks later Ekberg was doing repair work at home. He had several large fans going, trying to dry out the house. Over the fans whirring, he heard Junior’s plaintive cries.

“He came in looking frazzled, dirty and hungry,” he said.

Snoqualmie focuses on elevations and tries to minimize buyouts, because FEMA requires that the land remain empty forever, Hollenbeck said.

The city doesn’t want its downtown sprinkled with empty lots, so it focuses its buyouts along the river’s banks or if a house is extremely damaged, Hollenbeck said.

“That land has to remain open in perpetuity. You can’t build a house on it. You can build a pea patch. We have lots of pea patches in town,” she said.

To qualify for a buyout, a house must sustain more than 50 percent damage from one flood.

Future development

Because of FEMA guidelines, development is strictly controlled in Snoqualmie Valley’s floodplain. 

For a community’s residents to qualify for the national flood insurance program, it has to meet FEMA’s regulatory standards for development in a floodplain. By adopting further standards, a community can also help its residents get a reduced rate on the insurance.

“FEMA’s development guidelines don’t preclude any development in the floodway, but it does make it more difficult, said Clint Loper, King County’s supervising hydraulic engineer for the Snoqualmie River basin.

Snoqualmie, North Bend and King County, which manages unincorporated areas, have adopted strict development standards. For example, Snoqualmie limits density in the floodplain by requiring at least five acres before a residential unit can be subdivided. Because of that and other measures, flood insurance rates for Snoqualmie residents are reduced 25 percent.

In unincorporated areas, King County has a zero-rise standard. No new development can have a noticeable affect on the flood level.

However, this has been relaxed somewhat in lower Snoqualmie Valley to make it easier for farmers to build farm pads. The pads are elevated patches of land where they can move animals and expensive equipment during floods.

Only a small portion of North Bend is in the FEMA-mapped floodway, but much of the city is in the floodplain, said Gina Estep, the city’s economic development director.

Since the downtown core is not in the floodway, North Bend doesn’t face significant restrictions on development.

“It’s more a matter to address the safety concerns” of residents and business owners, she said. Nonetheless, “being in the floodplain does come with some restrictions,” such as building elevated homes.

Like Snoqualmie, North Bend’s development code allows residents to receive reduced flood insurance rates.

Even with flood insurance, homeowners must be ready to pay some expenses up front.

“Initially, it’s all out of pocket because you’re waiting for the checks to come in,” Ekberg said. He and his wife waited up to two months for their insurance payments to start coming.

Out of luck

Construction crews tear into the old St. Clare’s Episcopal Church in 2008. After the November 2006 flood the building started growing toxic mold. (Photo contributed)

Some residents have had bitter experiences trying to get their houses elevated, though. Two of them live in Shamrock Park, a neighborhood surrounded by, but not part of North Bend. A continuous levee system holds back the South Fork of the Snoqualmie River, which runs along the neighborhood’s east and north sides.

Shamrock Park resident Dwight Bunn and his wife got stuck in bureaucratic morass between FEMA and the county trying to get their house raised. Rather than wait for another flood, the couple took $67,000 from their retirement savings to raise their house four feet.

The Bunns found plenty of hidden costs, they said. The work was not tax deductible, and they had to pay for permits.

Another Shamrock Park resident, Stephanie Huber, reported similar difficulties in trying to save her two-story home, where she has lived since 1989.

Huber’s already spent almost $250,000 on protecting and repairing her house from flood damage, she said.

Huber grew up in the neighborhood, and has seen the landscape change over the years.

The neighborhood, which is bordered by North Bend on three sides, has sought to join the city, but with no success.

“We’ve asked to be annexed and never got anywhere. And why? Because we’re a liability,” she said.

North Bend won’t annex Shamrock Park because of its flooding risk, according to a city official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to publicly discuss the issue.

Managing the river

Several Snoqualmie Valley residents said they want the river dredged, but King County is reluctant to dredge unless it considers it absolutely necessary. The county monitors several points along the river to determine if dredging is required, but it hasn’t opted for it since the 1990s. The river hasn’t been regularly dredged since the 1960s.

Streambeds naturally change as a river carries sediment down from the highlands, and just because a gravel bar is created doesn’t mean it will make flooding any worse, Loper said.

During a significant flood event, the Snoqualmie River carries 200 or 300 times its normal capacity.

In most cases, dredging the river beforehand wouldn’t make a noticeable difference in the flood level, he said.

As always, cost is a consideration.

“For any given problem, there might be multiple solutions to look at,” Loper said.

In lower Snoqualmie Valley, there are also environmental considerations, as the river there is spawning habitat for salmon, which are protected.

King County has also adapted how it manages levees and revetments along rivers. More flexible designs have been adopted when possible to more closely mimic natural settings, which are typically best suited for holding floodwater, Loper said.

The county has begun using setback levees and revetments, when possible. As their name implies, they are setback from the river, rather than hard against it, like the levees protecting Shamrock Park.

That extra room, which oftentimes has vegetation growing in it, allows for a river’s “inevitable desire to move,” Loper said. “That’s hopefully more long-term sustainable and more cost effective because you’re not fighting the river.”

Even slow-moving rivers like the Snoqualmie have tremendous force. It is expensive and difficult to lock its channel into one path. But this is what human development often tries to do, noted several experts.

Setback measures allow the river channel room to move around.

But they aren’t a solution for the entire Snoqualmie.

“There are homes and businesses that are getting flooded and I don’t think there’s any structural solution to changing that,” Loper said.

While King County’s Water and Land Resources manages the rivers day to day, the King County Flood Control District has overseen flood protection policies and projects since it was created in 2007.

King County Councilwoman Kathy Lambert — who represents Snoqualmie and North Bend — chairs the board with other members of the County Council.

Overall, Lambert said, “residents need to be at higher elevations.”

Community spirit

While flooding is destructive and dangerous, it can also bring the community together sometimes. Neighbors help each other secure belongings and move them out of harms way. Residents fill sandbags for people in harm’s way. After the flooding, people pitch in to clean up.

Flooding brought out the best in the community, said Jane Ellen Seymour, a North Bend parent.

When a North Bend Yahoo group sent a message asking for sandbagging volunteers, her children helped at the city’s Public Works building.

“It was wonderful,” Seymour said. “I’m a North Bend resident, so I was impressed with the quality and the amount of the communication.”

The Seymour family also picked up debris at Mount Si High School.

“Many hands make light work,” Seymour said. “What was nice, it was not just adults. It was whole families helping pitch in and clean up.”

Community members—some not even from the Valley—came to fill sandbags in the cold rain in January in downtown Snoqualmie.

Julie Randazzo, owner of Sahara Pizza and Adventure Lanes, made pizza and coffee for the volunteers. She figures she fed around 20, but not everyone ate, she said.

Dan Catchpole: 392-6434, ext. 246, or editor@snovalleystar.com. Laura Geggel: 392-6434, ext. 221, or lgeggel@snovalleystar.com.

The Snoqualmie River pours out of its banks last January, flooding the Valley wall to wall near Carnation. A river’s floodplain is really the river at high flow, says David Montgomery, a geomorphology professor at the University of Washington. (Photo by Alan Berner / The Seattle Times)

Flooding. It’s an all-too familiar part of life for many residents of Snoqualmie Valley. Since moving to the Valley in 2005, Snoqualmie residents Don and Nancy Ekberg have had their home flooded twice. Business-owner and resident Julie Randazzo and her husband Harold Nesland have sandbagging their pizza restaurant and bowling alley down to a science.

But flooding is part of Snoqualmie Valley’s natural rhythm, say experts. And many of them agree that fighting it is a losing battle.

Today, King County has a work-with-nature approach to flood management, which reflects both the high costs of trying to control flooding and the ecological value of flooding.

At the same time, the county and the Valley have grown very quickly in recent decades, and the county must balance development and flood management.

“The one thing about floodplains we’re sure of is that they flood,” said Dave Montgomery, river expert and geomorphology professor at the University of Washington. “Over the long run, sometimes avoidance of a hazard is the best policy.”

Along the Snoqualmie, the county has decided it is more cost effective to buy out or elevate homes to move residents out of harm’s way, rather than put in hard fixes, such as a dam or levee system.

After the dam and a levee system were built, the county encouraged industrial development along the Green River. But the dam has proven to be less stable than anticipated and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is working with local engineers to find a long-term fix. Some rivers themselves also have been altered, reducing their ability to manage high water.

In the meantime, part of King County’s industrial core is at elevated flood risk.

“How wise are we to assume that the flood controls today are always going to be there?” Montgomery asked. So, “there’s this long-term debate about what is the best land use on a flood plain. What are we willing to allow on places in a flood plain?”

Today, the county tries to find a cost effective way of minimizing risk.

“We’re at a point where we recognize we need to help people better live with flooding,” said Clint Loper, King County’s supervising engineer for the Snoqualmie River basin.

Snoqualmie Valley “has been a floodplain historically; this continues to be a floodplain,” he said, explaining the county’s view on flooding in the Valley.

The river ties the Valley together, running like a ribbon from the northern end to the south, where its three branches split off like strands of frayed rope. The river floods today much as it has since a massive sheet of ice last retreated northward thousands of years ago. It rolls down from the Cascade Mountains to the Skykomish River to form the Snohomish River and into the Pacific Ocean.

Most days, the Snoqualmie River peacefully passes along, but when the conditions are right, the river surges over its banks, flooding the fields, forests and communities in the Valley.

The Snoqualmie River’s flow – the amount of water in the channel – is unregulated. There are no dams on the forks to control its headwaters. It is a mix when it comes to flood management, with levees and revetments used in some places to protect developed areas at high-risk of flood damage even during small flows. Many of these areas are along the South Fork of the Snoqualmie River in and around North Bend.

Noticeable flooding typically occurs after a heavy rain lands on already saturated ground, said Brent Bower, a service hydrologist in the National Weather Service’s Seattle office. He is responsible for issuing flood predictions.

Those conditions occur most often in late fall through winter, but flooding can happen any time of the year.

Flooding is a natural process that can be thought of as the river at maximum flow.

“Rivers aren’t designed to carry all the flows they get. The floodplain is the river at high flow,” said David Montgomery, a river expert and geomorphology professor at the University of Washington.

The Snoqualmie River’s full force pours over the falls during the January flood. (Photo by Alan Berner / The Seattle Times)

When the Snoqualmie River floods in its natural state, it reshapes the landscape around it, forming new habitats for fish and animals, and depositing nutrient-rich soil on the valley floor.

“You can think of a river as the circulatory system of the landscape – the flow of energy and material is organized through the channel system,” Montgomery said.

The ecological importance of a river typically goes far beyond the space it occupies.

“To the things that live in and along the river, the things that come along with the flood are pretty important,” he said.

This is especially true for salmon, which spawn in the lower Snoqualmie River.

For the people who live along the river, the effects of flooding can be devastating. Randazzo twice almost lost her business, and Ekberg suffered thousands of dollars of damage to his home, not to mention the stress that came along with watching water rush into his new home.

They aren’t the first humans to have endured flooding along the Snoqualmie.

Humans have been drawn to the benefits of the Snoqualmie River for thousands of years. Snoqualmie Tribe’s ancestors were hunters and gatherers in the fertile lower Valley. White settlers came for the Valley’s agricultural and timber lands.

Flooding was of little consequence when the population was sparse, said Gardiner Vinnedge, a North Bend historian.

At first, “there just weren’t that many people here to notice it and they didn’t have that much at stake,” Vinnedge said.

Logging led to more flooding and dead trees jammed the Snoqualmie River. As farmers moved in, they began to drain swampy areas and straighten waterways, such as Gardiner Creek, named for Gardiner Vinnedge’s great-grandparents. The creek meanders down from Rattlesnake Mountain and through Forster Woods, but straightens when it hits Meadowbrook Farm. When the settlers straightened it, its water began to move faster.

“You begin messing with the natural patterns and you begin to get changes,” Vinnedge said. “You’d begin to have washouts and silt and more severe flooding, but it would have been very local.”

People began building permanent, more valuable structures they didn’t want flooded. They started bringing in fill, like gravel, and built on top of it. Railroad beds, roads and culverts changed the landscape.

After being hit by bad floods in 1959, levees were built in and around North Bend. The city saw a decline in flooding after that, which prompted further development, including the Factory Stores, the Nintendo warehouse and the Shamrock Park neighborhood.

“(We have) massive new investments, and now they have to be protected,” Vinnedge said.

In King County, more than $7 billion worth of development was built over time in the floodplain, according to a 2007 county estimate.

“We’re in a region that’s growing,” and local, county and state policy is designed to allow development to happen, Loper said.

King County has been changing its development policies to increasingly restrict development in floodplains. To qualify for the federal flood insurance program, municipalities must adhere to FEMA’s strict guidelines for development in floodways – the federally-designated core of a floodplain.

Loper couldn’t say whether or not the county would build the levees in the same way today as they were originally built, but it is in the process of a $5 million levee restoration and improvement project on the South Fork.

While dredging hasn’t been done in upper Snoqualmie Valley for years, the county widened the river’s channel just above the falls in 2004-05, which had a similar affect to dredging. The project was designed to reduce flood elevations upstream in the city of Snoqualmie by 1.5 feet during a 100-year flow.

Flood management often comes down to a cost analysis, according to experts.

The question becomes “how much does society want to subsidize people on a flood plain?” Montgomery said.

Growth has come, in large part, by building on previously undeveloped lands. Between the late 1970s and 2002 in Washington, about 1.2 million acres of forestland, almost all of it privately owned, were converted to other land uses, including development, according to the state Department of Natural Resources. That is a little more than the size of the Olympic and Mt. Rainier National Parks combined.

Each year between the late 1980s and 2004, over 30,000 acres of forestland around Puget Sound were lost, much of it being used for rural-residential and urban development, according to Luke Rogers at the UW College of Forest Resources. That is an area roughly half the size of Seattle.

Development typically means more runoff when it rains. The faster and more runoff there is, the worse flooding will likely be.

“The biggest change is if it gets developed into towns, buildings, streets, which have 100 percent runoff,” said Bower.

However, the amount of development in Snoqualmie Valley likely falls far short of what would be needed to cause a noticeable rise in flood levels, he said.

The Valley’s flood storage capacity could have even possibly increased as former logging areas converted back to forest, he said.

New development in a river’s floodplain must meet strict guidelines before work can begin, but building in uplands can affect flooding, as well.

In King County, all development outside a floodplain must still minimize its effect on changes in runoff characteristics. For large developments, solutions include structures such as storm-water holding ponds.

No engineering solution will be as good as the natural setting, Loper said.

Dan Catchpole: 392-6434, ext. 246, or editor@snovalleystar.com.

Devin Ramosbookter paddles a makeshift raft across his yard near downtown Snoqualmie during the January 2009 flood. (File photo)

Part 1 of 3

In freezing-cold rain, Julie Randazzo and other Snoqualmie residents frantically filled sandbags. Her back and shoulders ached after hours of lifting shovelfuls of wet, heavy sand into the bags. The sun had set, but the Snoqualmie River was still rising.

Randazzo knew that if she and her husband, Harold Nesland, were going to save their business, Sahara Pizza and Adventure Lanes, they would need more sandbags. She dug the shovel into the pile of sand once more.

Snoqualmie Valley residents have endured flooding for generations. Flooding can be destructive, and yet people continue to come to the Valley, drawn by its natural beauty, which has been created, in part, by flooding. They find ways to coexist with high waters, just as Randazzo and Nesland have.

Shortly after dinnertime, Randazzo and Nesland said ‘goodbye.’ With the floodwaters rising in the upper Snoqualmie Valley, she and their five children needed to get out before the roads were cut off.

“I barely got out of town with the kids,” she said. “The water had already started coming up over the road, and I wasn’t sure if my van was high enough to get over the water.”

Randazzo rolled the dice and cleared the water without flooding her engine.

Nesland and three others stayed at the bowling alley through the night, pumping water for nine hours straight to keep from damaging the lanes. Despite sandbagging the building’s exposed sides, water was still seeping in under the pin changing machines, which were bolted to a slab of concrete. The bolts, Randazzo said, must run into the dirt, which was saturated.

“If it destroys the lanes, it would pretty much destroy the business,” she said. Insurance wouldn’t have been enough to cover the $150,000 it would cost to replace the lacquered wood floors.

Randazzo spent a sleepless night at on high ground, calling Nesland for updates. By the time the sun rose, the worst had passed and their business had survived another flood.

Not far from Sahara Pizza, Don and Nancy Ekberg were waiting for the water to subside to see how their house fared.

Without the help of a small army, sandbagging wouldn’t save their house. Kimball Creek runs through their backyard, which is only half a mile from the Snoqualmie River.

They raised everything they could off the floor and went next door to their neighbor’s house, which was on higher ground.

“Me and my wife just sat over on the porch and watched our house go ‘bloop, bloop, bloop’,” Ekberg said, imitating the sound of air escaping.

The water in their driveway was neck deep. Inside their house, which was around three feet off the ground, it was 30 inches deep.

They waited two days for it to subside before opening their front door.

“We lost everything,” Ekberg said. Beds, appliances, furniture, cabinets, flooring, carpeting and drywall were ruined.

Fortunately, there was no mud inside their home, but everything was “sopping, soaking wet,” from water mixed with paint, oil, raw sewage and other effluence, he recalled.

There was a big wheel 10 feet up a tree in their backyard, and a refrigerator floated by at one point.

Ekberg did the only thing he could and started throwing out what was beyond repair and tearing out wet drywall.

Since buying their house in 2005, Ekberg and his wife have already endured two major and one minor flood events. It is the first house either one has owned.

The flood in 2006 was emotionally devastating for the couple. Their house had 12 inches of water in it.

“Here’s our brand new house, and it just got trashed,” Ekberg said.

Three years later, they were hit with a financially devastating flood.

“In 2009, I was just plain pissed,” he said.

When there is a major flood event on the Snoqualmie River, it leaves behind a swath of damage and destruction.

Flooding happened more often than not at the old St. Clare Episcopal Church. Trouble first seeped into the basement in a rain-induced mini-flood of four inches of water in January 2006, which sat for several days before a member discovered the unorthodox wading pool.

A few months later “in May, we noticed that the ceiling in the church was getting back marks on it,” said the Reverend Patty. “We realized there was mold growing in there.”

A mold removal company advised the congregation to leave the building, as mold can affect people with at-risk immune systems, especially children and the elderly.

In May 2006, the congregation moved next door to the parish hall.

A week before the November 2006 flood, the congregation met and brainstormed how to fix the church.

“We said, ‘this will work but it will never keep us from being flooded again,” Baker said. “How much money do we keep pouring into a facility that is so severely compromised and so unable to be protected from further flooding? We could have spent thousands of dollars to fix the problem and we could never have addressed that the next flood would have caused the same damage again.”

After the 2006 flood, the congregation opted to demolish the flooded church. The parish hall survived the 2008 flood because it is built higher ground.

“The building itself is up on a little bit of a rise,” Baker said. “We are very thankful for that.”

Snoqualmie Valley School District racked up over $1.7 million in damages when, in 2009, water flooded Mount Si High School, the first floor of the district’s administration building and caused damage across the district, especially to elementary school playgrounds. The district had to pay for repairs out of pocket and is still waiting to be repaid from its insurance companies, district spokeswoman Carolyn Malcolm said.

After the 2009 flood, homeowners in Snoqualmie reported an estimated $1.4 million in damages to King County. Ten businesses reported damages worth nearly $300,000, and the city had over $270,000 in flood-related costs itself.

However, these numbers were down from the 2006 flood, when Snoqualmie residents reported an estimated $2 million in residential damages and the city had over $550,000 in flood-related costs.

Snoqualmie’s residents file more flood insurance claims than do residents of any other city in Washington, according to several officials.

Snoqualmie Valley regularly floods because, unlike other major rivers in Western Washington, it is an unregulated river. Typical flood control measures, such as a dam at the river’s headwaters or a levee system, have been found to be unsuitable for Snoqualmie River by King County officials and flooding experts.

“It’s much more of a wild river,” said Clint Loper, King County’s supervising engineer for the Snoqualmie River basin. “Partly because of that it’s retained its rural character.”

Floodwater in Snoqualmie Valley usually moves slowly but can pick up speed in localized incidents, such as this one near all City in January. (Contributed)

Much of that rural character is found in agriculture, which has thrived in the Valley. The upper Snoqualmie Valley basin spans 367 square miles and the Snoqualmie River Basin supports more than 4,500 acres of farmland. That farmland is usually first to flood when rain and snow run-off expands the river. 

The river floods today much the way it has since glaciers created it 12,000 years ago. The floodwaters can be deep but are generally slow moving.

Typically, the greatest damage is from inundation, such as happened to Ekberg and St. Clare Episcopal Church. However, there can be times when conditions create fast-flowing water in a small area, which can undermine a building’s foundation.

Another very serious danger is what experts call “channel migration,” when a river moves across the landscape. The Snoqualmie River is most likely to move in the lower valley, with its flat floor and around its Middle and South Forks.

“It’s an area of high instability and with a lot of houses,” Loper said.

Predicting where the two forks might move to is very difficult. “Geologically its an unstable point,” he said.

Despite the river’s unpredictable nature, many people choose to live in the Valley for its natural aesthetics. Without a control dam, flooding will continue to occur, Loper said, but that doesn’t mean Ekberg is ready to pack her bags.

“We’re not going anywhere,” Ekberg said. “We love it here. Snoqualmie Valley’s a beautiful place 361 days of the year. It’s those other four days a year that you hate.”

Snoqualmie River flood phases:

          Phase      Flow level        Description

• 1            6,000 c.f.s.*    Internal Alert
• 2           12,000 c.f.s.     Lowland flooding
• 3           20,000 c.f.s.    Flooding in the entire Snoqualmie Valley
• 4           38,000 c.f.s.    Some residential areas may experience dangerous high velocities and flooding of homes.

*c.f.s.= cubic (of water) feet per second

(Source: King County, United States Geological Survey)

Dan Catchpole: 392-6434, ext. 246 or editor@snovalleystar.com. Laura Geggel: 392-6434, ext. 221, or lgeggel@snovalleystar.com.

King County residents and business owners can now receive real-time flood warning alerts by phone, text message or e-mail for more than a half-dozen rivers, including the Snoqualmie River and Tolt River.

“The new flood alert system can be tailored to an individual’s precise needs, allowing anyone to sign up for flood alerts for a specific river or multiple rivers, for a specific flood phase level, and for the alerts to come via phone, text message or e-mail,” said Steve Bleifuhs, manager of the county’s River and Floodplain Management group.

He warned residents not to rely only on source of information during potential flooding.

“In an emergency, no one system is foolproof, and it is important for residents to check multiple sources for information – such as radio, television and the Web,” Bleifuhs said.

Residents can subscribe to the service at www.kingcounty.gov/flood or by calling 206-263-3400. The service is paid for by the King County Flood Control District, which provides money and policy oversight for flood protection projects and programs.

When wet weather raises river levels to flood conditions, the King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks opens the Flood Warning Center to provide round-the-clock coordination of weather and river flooding information and answer questions for the public.

The Flood Warning Center provides a continuously updated phone message—at 206-296-8200 or 800-945-9263—describing conditions on King County’s major rivers. Residents can speak directly to staff in the center during a flood by calling 206-296-4535 or 800-768-7932.

The center uses a four-phase warning system with Phase Four being the most serious and potentially dangerous to people and property. Phases are issued independently for each of the county’s major rivers, including the Snoqualmie, Tolt and Cedar Rivers. A four-phase warning system is also established for Issaquah Creek.

Sandbag distribution information can be found online by going to www.kingcounty.gov/floodplans/ and clicking on “sandbag distribution locations.”

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.

Heavy rains raised concerns over flooding in the Snoqualmie Valley the morning of Oct. 26, but by lunchtime officials announced the threat was diminishing.

No damage from the heavy rain had been reported in Snoqualmie by the next day, but city officials are concerned about the timing of the first warning of the flood season.

“It was a little unnerving to have this kind of warning coming this early,” Snoqualmie Mayor Matt Larson said.

However, this flood warning really didn’t come much earlier than normal, said Doug Williams, a spokesman for the county’s Water and Land Resources Division.

“November is hands down the worst month for flooding on the Snoqualmie,” Williams said.

Since 1990, four of the eight largest floods on the river have happened in November.

The King County Flood Warning Center opened the morning of Oct. 27 to monitor rising water levels of the Tolt and Snoqualmie rivers.

The Snoqualmie River forks peaked around 12:30 p.m. at 19,210 feet per second (cfs.) — a Phase II flood alert level, according to King County officials.

At over 19,000 cfs., it was “just getting ready to tickle the bottom of a Phase III flood alert level,” which is 20,000 cfs., Williams said.

The Tolt River was flowing at 2,920 cfs., and minor flooding led to some road closures that afternoon. The Tolt crested by noon.

By afternoon, snow, rather than rain, was falling in the mountains. At that point, county officials were “not really expecting anything but minor flooding,” according to Jason Wilkinson, a project manager for the county.

This winter is supposed to be warmer and drier than usual due to the El Nino weather system in the Pacific Ocean.

However, 2006 was supposed to be an El Nino year, and it produced significant flooding on the Snoqualmie River, Williams cautioned.

“Flooding can and has occurred thru all kinds of different weather patterns,” he said.

Material from The Seattle Times is included in this report.

About 50 Snoqualmie Valley residents attended a meeting March 17 at the Mount Si High School auditorium to hear about what the city and county are doing to help residents limit the damage caused by future flooding. 

Snoqualmie is applying for hazard mitigation grant funds to elevate homes out of the floodway to buy properties that are habitually inundated with floods. The city hopes that it can receive about $1.5 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The money would pay for 12-15 home elevations. A second grant could pay for buying out flood-prone properties. 

Reports from the January flood indicate that few, if any, of the homes that were previously elevated received flood damage to living areas. 

According to Senior City Planner Lauren Hollenbeck, whether or not a property can be bought out is determined by a cost benefit analysis that assesses a variety of factors, such as the amount of damage caused by floods, the height of flood waters on the property, and the property’s previous history with flooding. 

Property inventory forms must be completed and returned by March 31. The city expects to know next month if it will receive hazard mitigation grants. Hollenbeck said that about 60 area residents are interested in the hazard mitigation grant program. 

Hollenbeck and a steering committee are also working on updating Snoqualmie’s Hazard Mitigation Plan. This plan identifies what hazards exist in the city, and can be used to help apply for additional grants to limit the impact of disasters, such as floods and earthquakes. 

She said that there would be public meetings this year to gather citizen input on the Hazard Mitigation Plan. Citizens will be asked to share their local knowledge of the area’s vulnerability to natural hazards.  

A 15-member steering committee composed of stakeholders has been formed to guide the development of the Hazard Mitigation Plan. Snoqualmie has also contracted with Tetra Tech, Inc. to facilitate the development of the updated plan. The update will be coordinated with King County’s Hazard Mitigation Plan, which is also being updated. 

Information on the plan, including meeting agendas and minutes of the steering committee, are posted on the city’s Web site www.ci.snoqualmie.wa.us on the “Hazard Mitigation” page under the “City Projects” tab.

Stockpiling sandbags, better interagency coordination, better public notifications, and speeding up disaster cleanups are changes that King County wants to make to better deal with emergencies like the January floods.

The King County Council approved legislation that attempts to better aid communities during floods and other emergencies on March 9. The legislation is partly in response to comments made by citizens at a committee of the whole meeting of the County Council in Carnation in February.

“In every disaster, we all continue to learn, and this event with its record water levels presented some new challenges. The Town Hall provided an opportunity for those most affected by the storm in the rural area to share their experiences with most members of the King County Council,” said King County Councilwoman Kathy Lambert, in a March 9 press release.

Snoqualmie was too busy dealing with the emergency to notice the county’s response, said Emergency Management Director and Fire Chief Bob Rowe. He is unsure if the county’s new legislation will help the city in future floods, but he does feel that the relationship between Snoqualmie and the county is important for responding to and recovering from disasters. 

Along with other emergency management directors in the county, Rowe regularly attends meetings in Renton to discuss ways to learn about what other cities and the county are doing to prepare for emergencies. He said that the regular meetings with his counterparts were important to fostering partnerships.

“Planning prior to an event is the most helpful,” Rowe said. 

He said that the city’s relationship with the county was good. He credited them with getting roads closed when they became impassable and noted that, when the county could not make it out in time to close roads, that the city was able to put up barricades for them. 

“It is important for all council members to learn about what worked and what can be improved from our flood survivors – the experts. We were able to translate the many suggestions into action items in a very short period of time. This is a model example of democracy in action, which will make us better prepared for the next disaster,” Lambert said. 

One of the ordinances adopted by the King County Council is to stockpile sandbags at locations in each watershed. The plan is to make the sandbags available to the public during floods.

Snoqualmie used its own sandbags during the flood. When the city ran out, it received extra sandbags from neighbors in North Bend, Rowe said. He does not anticipate using the county sandbags during the next flood event.

Another item of legislation directs the county executive to organize discussions between local, county, state and federal agencies responsible for flood protection and response. The measure is designed to improve coordination and communication of actions to reduce the severity of flooding. 

“Communication and coordination are always essential in an emergency,” Rowe said. 

Other measures adopted by the county include improving public notification and speeding cleanup responses. The Water and Land Resources Division is directed to study ways to improve the public notification process to provide residents in flood areas early warning of imminent flooding. 

The County Council also called on the executive to review county, state and federal regulations for rules that create barriers to prompt removal of flood debris that present dangers to public safety and the environment.

The County Council hopes that the new legislation, along with the work being done by the King County Flood Control Zone District, will protect communities and reduce the impacts of flooding. 

“As a board member of the King County Flood Control District, I am very glad we had the first of our 10 years of projects and protections completed,” said Councilwoman Lambert in the council’s press release. “In many areas of the county, they would have had more damage without these improvements. I look forward to implementing more of the flood control plan each year to help reduce our risks.”

Lambert also thanked those that offered their support to help cities and residents after the flood event. 

“We are grateful for the outpouring of help from emergency response agencies, volunteers and neighbors during this devastating flood,” Lambert said.

Reach reporter Michael Bayless Rowe at mrowe@snovalleystar.com or 392-6434, ext. 248.

More than 200 people gathered at Tolt Middle School in Carnation Feb. 11 to listen to members of the King County Council and others discuss the county’s response to January flooding in the Valley.

The council members took questions from the audience and heard presentations from county staff from the water and land resources division, the emergency management division, and the road maintenance section. A member of the agricultural commission and a local organic farmer also presented information to the crowd about the flood’s impact on farming in the valley.

A dead salmon washed onto a road and farm fields strewn with river stones and other scenes from the disastrous flood were projected above the stage where the council and the presenters sat.

For Brian Tate, who lives in the Snoqualmie area, it was a chance to ask a question that has been burning him since the flood. Tate’s home was elevated after the 2006 flood, and he was told at that time that he had to replace drywall in the lower level of his residence to meet code. The drywall was damaged by the January 2009 flood and now his insurer says that it will not pay to replace the sheetrock. He thinks other people may have run into this issue.

Richard Anderson, director of the Northwest Railway Museum in Snoqualmie, asked about mitigating future damage to the railroad tracks owned by the museum. He noted that the tracks are supposed to be above flood levels, but that water builds up on one side of the tracks and eventually overflows the tracks, causing washouts to the rock and gravel base of the tracks. He suggested a culvert to allow water to go under the tracks.

Mark Isaacson of King County’s Water, Land and Resources Division said that he would look into the museum’s problems.

Michelle Hayes, who lives near North Bend, wanted to know if the county could do anything about her road, which she said disappeared after the flood. She wanted information on whether responsibility for road maintenance belonged to the county or to private individuals. 

Debbie Arima, manager of the county’s roads maintenance section, said that she would talk with Hayes later to determine if the road was maintained by the county or not. She noted that some roads are not dedicated to the county, and instead are built and maintained by private individuals.

Arima said that county road crews have identified 115 projects as a result of the flood. She described many of the projects as minor, but noted that she was trying to get federal funding for the repairs so that the county was not stuck footing the bill.

In response to one question from the audience, Arima said that her department was working with the state to find ways to better inform drivers of road closures. She agreed that people shouldn’t have to drive up to the closure barricades to learn that they could not use a certain route. 

In one respect, she thinks the road maintenance department did a good job with closing roads due to flooding. 

“There was no major loss of life, no major accidents, because we didn’t close roads properly,” Arima said.

The idea of dredging local rivers received a large applause from the crowd, and when Isaacson attempted to respond to the question, he was interrupted by a few heckling remarks from the audience. Isaacson explained that there was a lot of red tape on the federal and state levels of government and a lengthy administrative process to get the permits needed to dredge rivers. 

County Councilwoman Kathy Lambert, who represents the eastside of King County including the Snoqualmie Valley, encouraged the audience to write their congressman and ask that the county be allowed to dredge the river. She said that the county would allow dredging if they could get approval to do the work.

State and federal officials have not allowed dredging in order to protect salmon habitats. Some in the audience did not buy this reasoning, and Isaacson was quick to admit that they needed to look at dredging.

“People have told me that you used to be able to walk across the river on the backs of the fish,” said Lambert, noting that when the river was dredged in the past it did not seem to affect salmon populations.

Earlier in his presentation, Isaacson said that one thing the county could have done better during the flood was to extend its automatic emergency warning system to members of the public, not just to first responders. 

Isaacson said that flood control work in the Valley would continue, but it will be a lengthy process. He said that the county would continue to work with cities and residents to elevate homes above flood levels, and would continue to build and improve levees to prevent flooding or limit the damage caused by floods.

“It was enough that we might need to reprioritize some work,” said Isaacson, about his departments’ flood control work. 

Robin Friedman, director of the county’s emergency management division, complemented Snoqualmie Valley residents on their levels of personal preparedness. He encouraged people to meet with the Federal Emergency Management Agency officials who were at the meeting and to file for disaster relief funds. He was asked about emergency notifications in languages other than English, and said that his office was working to find ways to get warnings out in other languages.

Friedman also reminded the audience that the county was providing vouchers for disposal of flood debris through Feb. 26. He stressed that people should call the county at 206-296-4466 or 1-800-325-6165, extension 6-4466, to get vouchers before taking debris to a transfer station.

Reach reporter Michael Bayless Rowe at mrowe@snovalleystar.com or 392-6434.

Railroad tracks are, in fact, uninsurable — a fact that threatens to put the Northwest Railway Museum in a financial bind. 

When the Snoqualmie River crested in the Jan. 7 flood, it covered about two miles of railroad tracks and two railroad bridges in downtown Snoqualmie. The damage caused by the flood to the museum is estimated at about $100,000.

An antique train sits in water during last month’s flood.

Most of the damage was caused by water eroding the base that the track sits on.

The museum is now faced with the task of getting enough money to fix the tracks so that its train can run in April when the museum’s train-ride season begins. 

“We have to have the repairs completed before April, so we can start running trains on the weekends,” said Richard Anderson, the museum’s executive director.  

Since the tracks could not be insured, search for repair money has challenged the museum, especially considering current economic conditions.

“We will pay for the repairs by whatever means possible,” Anderson said.

Anderson said that the museum was applying for emergency grants, but many of the organizations that in the past would have lent a helping hand to the museum have seen their own endowments lose 30-40 percent of their values. 

“A number of organizations aren’t giving money for anything and are having trouble meeting the obligations they have already made,” Anderson said.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency, which provides loans and assistance in the wake of disasters like the flooding in Snoqualmie, may provide some funding for the repairs. But getting FEMA funds may be difficult because the statutes governing FEMA do not generally extend federal aid to organizations like the museum.

Whether the museum receives aid from FEMA will depend on how the repair work is characterized. Federal law does not allow museums to receive funding for permanent repairs, but some of the work may be deemed protective measures, which do get funded. Another source of revenue might be a loan from the small business administration. 

In April of 2008, the museum finally finished repairing tracks damaged by the 2006 flood. Now, less than a year later, new repairs are needed. The reason it took so long to get the repairs done after the 2006 flood was that funding for the work was not received until early 2008, Anderson said. 

The repairs needed to make the track usable by the museum’s train cannot wait. Anderson said that the urgent repairs would begin in about two weeks. The museum’s survival depends on its ability to generate revenue from the train trips between North Bend and Snoqualmie Falls, and it’s not just the museum that could suffer. Many downtown businesses depend on tourists, who come to the area to ride the trains or visit the railroad museum.

In comparison to past floods that have damaged the museum tracks, this one is shaping up to be the worst. 

“This was the deepest flood we’ve ever experienced at the museum,” Anderson said. 

Damage to the tracks in 2006 amounted to about $80,000, compared with the $100,000 in damages that the museum now has to deal with. 

Anderson finds it ironic that previous washouts probably involved the loss of more track-bed material than the 2009 flood. But those washouts were isolated to several specific areas, whereas this year the washouts are more widespread.

“It can be more expensive to fix little problems in more areas than to replace a large amount of material,” Anderson said. 

The damage to the tracks even stranded the museum train in Snoqualmie. The washouts prevent it from using the tracks to get to the museum’s train shop.

Anderson noted that the washouts were particularly bad in the area of the Meadowbrook Farm near the milk barn. He said that the washout there was five feet deep and that the flood had dislodged fist-sized stones from the train tracks’ base.

Despite its problems, the museum is still moving forward with plans to build a new facility to showcase restored trains, Anderson said.  

Reach reporter Michael Bayless Rowe at mrowe@snovalleystar.com or 392-6434, ext. 248.

Snoqualmie’s City Council heard an update on flood damage estimates and recovery efforts at its Jan. 26 meeting.

Public Works Operations Supervisor Mike Roy told the council that the city has collected 733 tons of flood debris and expects to collect as much as 800 tons by the end of the week.

Mayor Matt Larson said that the city is looking at about $378,000 in flood-related costs. This money will come out of the city’s $1 million unrestricted reserve account and out of the city’s contingency funds. The city also expects to recoup some of its flood expenses from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. 

The mayor went on to describe the financial damage dealt by the flood on the city. He said that the flood caused $3.2 million in structural damage to the living spaces of homes. This figure comes from the flood damage reporting, made by residents to the county. 

In addition to the structural damage, residents have reported about $1.3 million in losses to personal property, such as vehicles or furniture.  

City building inspectors have determined that 238 out of the roughly 600 homes in downtown Snoqualmie suffered damage to living areas. Now, many homeowners are waiting to see if they will receive aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or from their individual flood insurance policies. 

Roy gave the council details about the city’s flood expenses. He said that $80,000 of overtime was accrued by city workers, and that private contractors were owed about $92,000. Other expenses include damage to the city’s planning building, road washouts, and repair of the Meadowbrook Bridge. 

Roy said that several city vehicles required maintenance after the flood, and this will cost the city $9,000.

Councilman Robert Jeans asked Roy if the city had received donations of service from private contractors. He noted that several contractors volunteered their services after the 2006 flood. 

“That’s not happening this time because of the economy,” Roy said.

At the meeting, the mayor asked the council for input on whether the city should continue to collect flood debris. Demand for the debris collection service has dwindled in the weeks after the flood emergency. The council indicated that it was reasonable to begin winding down debris collection activities. 

The city’s flood debris collection site at the King Street parking lot is scheduled to close on Sunday, Feb. 1. Currently, the King Street collection site is open from 12-4 p.m. Residents who bring debris are asked to sort the loads into three categories: appliances that contain Freon, scrap metal, and general debris such as drywall or insulation. 

Reach reporter Michael Bayless Rowe at mrowe@snovalleystar.com or 425-392-6434 Ext. 248.

Snoqualmie residents and volunteers continue to cleanup after a Jan. 7 flood that affected much of downtown.

For the second weekend in a row, volunteers descended on Snoqualmie to pick up flood debris. However, this weekend saw fewer volunteers than the Jan. 10 weekend directly after the floods when 200 helpers arrived for cleanup efforts.

Alan Berner/The Seattle Times

After disposing of flooded personal effects, many people are now in the long-term phase of the cleanup, ripping out soaked drywall and making other repairs, Snoqualmie Mayor Matt Larson said.

City building inspectors visited homes damaged by the flood and found that 238 homes had damage to living spaces. There are about 600 homes in the downtown Snoqualmie area, which means that the flood damaged about 40 percent of homes in that area. During the 1990 flood, about 60 percent of downtown Snoqualmie homes were damaged, Larson said. 

Of the homes damaged in the downtown area, 30 homes that were elevated after the 1990 flood received no damage. Larson thinks that this will encourage people to elevate their homes to prevent future floods. He said that about 13 homeowners have recently applied for funding to elevate their houses. 

King County has extended the deadline for reporting flood damage to Jan. 24. When the final damage reports are prepared, the county will submit them to the state, which in turn submits them to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Damage reports may be made online at www.kingcounty.gov/prepare, or by phone to the county’s damage reporting hotline at 1-800-523-5044. 

“We’re pretty confident, given our experience with past flood events that it will qualify for FEMA help,” Larson said. 

One indicator of a return to normalcy is that fewer people have been bringing flood-damaged personal items to the Centennial Field drop-off location. The city and its partners closed down the Centennial Field flood debris drop-off location Jan. 19 in response to fewer people brining materials to dispose of.

The collection site at the King Street downtown parking lot will continue to be staffed through Friday, Jan. 23, from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. Residents who need curbside collection can call the Snoqualmie Emergency Operations Center at 888-5911 and provide their address. Collection of flood debris within homes is available for elderly or infirm residents by calling the emergency operations center.

The need for volunteers has also slowed, and the city reports that it no longer requires the public’s assistance. Residents who need volunteer assistance can also call the emergency operations center.  

The city is concerned about residents falling victim to shady home repair contractors. The city suggests that, at a minimum, residents should make sure that the contractors they hire are licensed, bonded and insured. The city posted a brochure on its Web site from the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries entitled “Hiring a Contractor or Remodeler? What You Should Know.” Other resources for hiring contractors are located at

www.ci.snoqualmie.wa.us.

Another sign that things are returning to normal is that Meadowbrook Way reopened Jan. 16 after being closed for just more than a week. The roadway was closed from near the Snoqualmie Casino north to State Route 202. Interim Public Works director Alan Lobdell said that a section of the road’s bedding – the foundation that the road sits on – was washed out by the flooding in the same spot that had been damaged by the November 2008 flood.

Lobdell said that, this time, city crews worked to repair the damage. After the November 2008 floods, the city contracted with the county to repair the roads. Lobdell hopes that work done to seal the road might prevent another washout. 

With Meadowbrook Way back in operation, all of the roads in Snoqualmie closed by the January 2009 flood are back in service.

State Route 202 between Snoqualmie and Fall City was also reopened late last week after being shut down for a week due to a washout caused by the flood.