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<< Previous   of   Next >>  Photo Gallery: December 2007 Floods  Photo Gallery: Statewide 2007 Floods   ADVERTISEMENT   ADDITIONAL ITEMS • Interactive map of flooding (External Link) • Snohomish County road closures (External Link)   Related Stories • Video: Flooding Near Index and Monroe 12/5/07 • Storm will cost us millions 12/5/07 • Snohomish River levels continue to drop 12/5/07 • Heavy rain, wind hit urban areas hardest 12/5/07 • Sodden homes bring despair in Lynn­wood 12/5/07 • Region used to surviving storms 12/5/07 • Video: Watching the River Rise 12/4/07   CONTACT THE HERALD Robert Frank, City Editor frank@heraldnet.com   Published: Wednesday, December 5, 2007 Snohomish County waives fees for dumping flood debris By Lukas Velush Herald Writer Soggy boxes, wet carpets and other flood-damaged items can be thrown out for free at Snohomish County transfer stations starting Friday, county officials said. Snohomish County Executive Aaron Reardon this morning shipped a proposal to waive the dumping fees to the County Council. The council approved the emergency measure at 10:45 a.m., said Fred Bird, a spokesman for the council. Fees will be waived for loads of flood-damaged items at transfer stations in Arlington, Everett and Mountlake Terrace. The fee waiver applies to county drop boxes in Granite Falls, Dubuque Road, Sultan, Oso and Gold Bar. Drop boxes have a 5-cubic-yard limit per load. The county's Department of Emergency Management is urging property and business owners to report flood damage. The amounts will be tallied and shared with state officials. The information may help Gov. Chris Gregoire ask for federal assistance. Call 425-388-5060 during business hours. Expect the call to take about 10 minutes. Calls are reportedly coming in at a brisk rate this morning, but there is no total damage estimate yet, said Celeste Bishop, call center coordinator the emergency department. Getting a final damage report “is going to take a few days,” Bishop said. It’s unclear how many homes were damaged by heavy urban flooding that swept through the county and Western Washington on Monday. Water levels on the Snohomish River continued to drop this morning, weather officials said. It fell below flood stage in Monroe early this morning and is expected to fall below flood stage in Snohomish late this afternoon. A flood warning remains in effect in Snohomish until the river drops below 25 feet, he said. It had dropped to 26.3 feet by 3:30 a.m. this morning, but has been slow to drop since then because of tidal influences and strong flows coming in from the Snoqualmie River. “From Snohomish down to Everett, you’re still going to have some fluctuations as the tides go up and down,” said Jay Albrecht, forecaster at the National Weather Service forecaster. The Snohomish River topped out at 27.6 feet, well below the record of 33.5 feet set in 1990 and the near record of 33.45 set in 2006. The flood warning for the Snohomish River was canceled in Monroe when it dropped below flood stage at 4:37 a.m. today The county’s dumping fee waiver applies only to items damaged by the flood, Reardon said. “Snohomish County is working to help our residents get back on their feet as quickly as possible,” he said. Commercial and business waste will continue to be charged regular disposal fees. The fee waiver doesn’t apply if a flood victim calls their trash hauler and asks them to take damaged items away. It only applies when flood damaged items are hauled to a transfer site or drop box. Items that will be accepted include household furnishings such as furniture, spoiled food, carpet, water-soaked wallboard, and appliances except refrigerators and freezers. Paint and small quantities of household hazardous waste also will be accepted. Hazardous waste must be kept separate from other garbage. Metal should be kept separate for recycling. People with large quantities of metal waste should contact local metal recyclers. Free disposal does not include demolition debris, yard debris, wood waste, concrete, rock, soil and animal carcasses. Large animal carcasses are not accepted at any time. For information on solid waste facility locations and hours of operation, call the county’s Solid Waste Division at 425-388-3425 or visit www.snoco.org.

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