Local News

<< Previous   of   Next >> Mark Mulligan / The Herald  (click to enlarge) Margaret Skube rows around her home south of Stanwood on Sunday, examining flood damage. Skube spent the day clearing the street of debris as floodwaters slowly receded. Water lapped at her doorway but did not enter the home. Instead, the house was surrounded with waist-deep water, making access easiest by boat. Jennifer Buchanan / The Herald  (click to enlarge) James Hammeren rolls a stump that was deposited by floodwaters near his Sexton Road house Sunday. The high-water mark from when the nearby Pilchuck River flooded can be seen on the house and the glass door. Hammeren has made three mortgage payments on his house and has already had two floods. Jennifer Buchanan / The Herald  (click to enlarge) Drivers along Springhetti Road line up to cross a water-covered portion on their way across the Snohomish River valley. Highway 9 was still closed Sunday afternoon.   ADVERTISEMENT   Related Stories • Crews work to clear mudslide from road near Index 1/12/09   CONTACT THE HERALD Robert Frank, City Editor frank@heraldnet.com   Published: Monday, January 12, 2009 Stanwood's still soggy Mucky cleanup for other parts of the county By David Chircop Herald Writer STANWOOD -- It was a long squishy walk home for Ron and Cindy Taggart on Sunday evening. As nightfall approached, the couple in heavy-duty rain gear sloshed along a soggy earthen levee to their home at the end of Leque Road south of downtown Stanwood. "We expect to be underwater for another three days," said Ron Taggart while navigating a trail of sandbags stacked along a chasm where the levee washed out. The road into their neighborhood south of the city's sewage lagoon has been underwater for several days. People who live in about 20 cut-off homes have reached to their properties by foot and by boat since the flood hit early Wednesday. Although water flooded into their basement last week, the Taggarts consider themselves fortunate. They raised their home by several feet nearly two decades ago after it was inundated with raw sewage that spilled out of the lagoon. In 1990, a flood caused widespread damage to homes in the neighborhood, surrounded on three sides by a tributary of the Stillaguamish River. Several people were forced to gut their homes. But before they could remove piles of debris and waterlogged belongings stacked in their yards, a second flood swept through a few months later, scattering belongings everywhere. "It was like a Salvador Dali painting," Cindy Tagggart said. This time, the neighborhood didn't suffer as much damage as in the past, people said, in part because many owners raised their homes. When many were advised to evacuate as the water rose very early Wednesday, a very pregnant cocker spaniel named Zoe kept Karen Carlson from leaving her home on 95th Avenue NW. Her home was still surrounded by water Sunday and Zoe was still pregnant. Her husband, Ken Carlson, explained that she'd rather wait it out than traumatize the dog -- although by day four, he said cabin fever was starting to settle in. Fortunately, the neighborhood maintained power and water service. Ben Skinner and Karmen Wood, both 25, were relieved to return home Sunday for the first time to discover their home was narrowly spared from the flood. They had stowed their valuables, including a new television set that they received as a Christmas gift, in an upstairs bedroom. Their mailbox on a post at the end of their long driveway was submerged. Lapping water stopped several yards shy of their front steps. Over the summer, city construction crews fortified an old levee in their back yard that is now protecting their home from a swollen slough that is fed by the Stillaguamish. They were awaken by heavy equipment for days but "we never complained because we knew if anything happened we would be thanking them," Skinner said. Virginia Schloredt, who lives on Marine Drive just south of Highway 532, called her flooded neighborhood the "Lake of Stanwood." In 2005, Schloredt sued the city of Stanwood for a dam it built along the slough in the early 1990s, which they claim made their neighborhood prone to worse flooding. Schloredt said she eventually settled her claim against the city, but said there is more that can be done to protect homes in the low-lying agricultural valley. "They need to do whatever it takes post-haste to make this drainage system as good as it can be," she said. "I feel fortunate, I've survived the flood better than some people, but I feel sorry for people upstream who didn't get what they need." Reporter David Chircop: 425-339-3429 or dchircop@heraldnet.com.

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