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<< Previous   of   Next >>  Photo Gallery: December 2007 Floods  Photo Gallery: Statewide 2007 Floods  Photo Gallery: Reader Flood Photos 2007   ADVERTISEMENT   ADDITIONAL ITEMS • Detour routes for travel from Seattle to Portland, Olympia to Aberdeen ( PDF) • Snohomish County road closures (External Link)   Related Stories • Flood-damaged I-5 may be closed till weekend 12/6/07 • How should I-5 be fixed -- and who should pay? 12/6/07 • Entire hill road likely to collapse 12/6/07 • Gregoire asks for storm help from White House 12/6/07 • Flooded Chehalis River leaves misery in its wake 12/6/07 • Phones, power slow to return in Oregon 12/6/07 • Video: Flooding Near Index and Monroe 12/5/07 • Storm will cost us millions 12/5/07 • Heavy rain, wind hit urban areas hardest 12/5/07 • Video: Watching the River Rise 12/4/07   CONTACT THE HERALD Robert Frank, City Editor frank@heraldnet.com   Published: Thursday, December 6, 2007 Heavy rain hit homes hardest Besides flooded basements, some roads will need repair By Lukas Velush Herald Writer As Snohomish County emerges from flooding triggered by the rainiest day here in nearly 60 years, most of the damage is showing up in the basements beneath homes scattered from Index to Edmonds. More than 200 people have called in to report damage, said John Pennington, director of the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management. Fewer than 10 businesses have reported damage. "This is early," Pennington said. "The numbers are going to go up." Home and businesses owners are encouraged to report the damage to Pennington's office. The phone number is 425-388-5060. On Monday, 2.86 inches of rain fell at Paine Field in Everett. That's the second wettest day there on record, said Johnny Burg, a National Weather Service meteorologist. The most rain recorded was 3.21 inches on June 13, 1948. Monday's near-record rainfall brought mainly urban flooding, spurring streams from their banks, overwhelming storm drains and leaving large pools of standing water. "It's just a completely different event where it was primarily urban flooding," said Steve Thomsen, the county's public works director. "The rivers behaved -- they stayed in their banks for the most part. There were no dike breaks, no major arterials that were underwater for any extended period of time." But smaller flooding problems were found everywhere, he said. "Hundreds of catch basins and ditches were overwhelmed," Thomsen said. "The phones were literally off the hook with people complaining about flooded basements." Now that most waters have receded, the single biggest flood-related problem in the county remains Seattle Hill Road, which connects the Snohomish Valley and Mill Creek. Erosion around a failed culvert has closed the road between 125th Street SE and 60th Avenue SE. Repairs are expected to cost up to $5 million, and likely will keep the road closed more than four weeks. More than 9,000 cars each day follow the route as a popular shortcut from I-5 to Snohomish. "We're moving as quickly as we can," said Janice Fahning, a state Department of Transportation engineer. She said fixing the road is the DOT's top priority in Snohomish, King, Skagit and Whatcom counties. "We're trying to get construction started by early next week." The road is unsafe to cross or walk on, she said. A 25-foot-deep hole has formed underneath the asphalt, undermining half of the road for more than 40 feet. Rough estimates put flood-related damage to roads in unincorporated Snohomish County at $1 million, Thomsen said. When damage to county parks and the Snohomish County PUD is added, the potential bill appears likely to top $2 million. "We've got about 20 locations around the county that have damage," he said. "Typical damage is water up over the roadway that eats away at the shoulder and tears out some pavement." Thomsen, Pennington and other officials in the county are preparing damage totals to submit to Gov. Chris Gregoire. She will then determine if there's enough damage to ask for federal assistance, Pennington said. It appears there may be enough damage to publicly owned structures to meet the federal standard for help, he said. He wouldn't estimate how much damage there is in the county. The state's focus for now is on southwestern Washington, which was much harder hit by the storm, Pennington said. "The governor's office contacted us and asked how we're doing," he said. "My report back was, 'We're holding our own, and we understand that the counties to the south have been hit hard, and so far we can handle it ourselves.'" Having the attention focused elsewhere will allow officials here to better assess the damage, increasing the likelihood of qualifying for emergency aid, he said. Around the state, other counties are beginning to compile damage estimates. "It's just now starting to come in," said Kyle Herman, a spokesman for the state Department of Emergency Management. "We won't have a good estimate for a while." In Snohomish County, cities had limited damage to report. In Edmonds, workers are expected to begin emergency repairs on Olympic View Drive, where floodwaters washed out a portion of the roadway between Andover Street and 76th Avenue W., Edmonds Mayor Gary Haakenson said. The City Council has authorized spending up to $1 million on repairs, which are expected to take up to 10 days, Haakenson said. In Mountlake Terrace, officials are still trying to assess any flood damage to roads and other infrastructure. There may be one or two areas that qualify for disaster relief assistance, Mountlake Terrace City Manager John Caulfield said. Standing water in Everett temporarily forced a few stretches of residential streets to shut Monday, but all roads were open again by Tuesday. City spokeswoman Kate Reardon said the storm caused no apparent major damage to infrastructure. In Lake Stevens, some erosion occurred in Lundeen Creek around the supports of a bridge on Lundeen Parkway, just west of Highway 204, city administrator Jan Berg said. "I think there might be some immediate repairs we need to do to prevent any long-term damage," she said. How much the work might cost isn't yet known, Berg said. In the meantime, the bridge is open and safe, she said. North Snohomish County avoided the devastation that flooded more urban areas in southern Snohomish County. Stanwood and Arlington didn't have any flood damage, according to city officials. In Darrington, high winds blew shingles off the fire station roof and water seeped onto some roadways, but there was no serious damage, according to Fire Chief Dennis Fenstermaker. "The river came up and it was real close to going over in places, but we didn't have nearly the kind of problem we had last year," he said. "We actually lucked out." Herald writers Jackson Holtz, Scott Pesznecker, Kaitlin Manry, David Chircop and Bill Sheets contributed to this report.

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