Flood damage declarations due today

ISLAND CROSSING — Kerry O’Brien bent down to scratch the grout between the polished brick-red tiles of his restaurant’s kitchen floor.

Sediment from the flooding Stillaguamish River has turned the grout gray, but that’s the least of O’Brien’s concerns.

O’Brien’s Turkey House reopened Wednesday after being closed two weeks because of flooding and the resulting huge cleanup job.

First the December snowstorms kept customers away. Then floodwaters hit in early January. Between the two, O’Brien estimates he lost a month’s worth of business. He said creditors are calling, asking for much of the $50,000 in lost revenue.

O’Brien is still totaling up his other losses, primarily the cost of all the food and equipment he had to throw away. Despite the sandbags at the doors, more than 3 feet of silty water swept through O’Brien’s Turkey House on Jan. 8. Frozen turkeys thawed, dishes broke and flour mixed with river water to make a sticky paste on the floor.

The O’Brien family has operated highway restaurants at Island Crossing since the early 1960s, and flood damage has never been so bad, he said.

“We worked hard to get open again and I’m giving it another shot,” he said. “I don’t want to shut the doors for good.”

O’Brien is among thousands of business and home owners, farmers and municipal officials across the state reporting flood damage.

On Thursday, Gov. Chris Gregoire asked President Barack Obama to declare a federal disaster area in Snoho­mish, King, Pierce, Clark, Lewis, Mason, Pacific, Thurston and Wahkiakum counties, which were damaged by flooding, mudslides and avalanches. That would free up federal funds for rebuilding.

As of Wednesday, Snohomish County had 103 homeowners reporting nearly $4.5 million damage to buildings and contents, spokesman Christopher Schwarzen said.

Damage to business property, so far with just 26 owners reporting, has reached the $1.7 million mark.

Reports on public damages, including many roads and highways, should start coming in today, Schwarzen said.

“Those are usually much higher than the estimates for individual and business damages,” he said.

So far the most that county officials have said is that they anticipate flood-related damages will top $20 million.

The Stillaguamish, Snoho­mish and Pilchuck rivers reached near-record flood levels early this month after heavy rainfall, rapid snow melt and high tides conspired to wreak havoc around the county.

At least six dikes and levees were breached during the flooding, threatening property, livestock and people. More than 30 people were rescued from their homes in the Stanwood, Silvana and Snohomish areas, according to the governor’s disaster declaration. Roughly 14,000 sandbags were delivered to Darrington, Arlington, Stanwood, Gold Bar, Monroe and Snohomish.

Snohomish city manager Larry Bauman submitted a damage report of $3.5 million for his community.

That includes some staff overtime, he said, but the biggest part is $2 million in damage repair to the city’s Pilchuck water transmission line. Other damage includes nearly $600,000 worth of problems at the water treatment plant, a breached dike that will cost nearly $400,000 to fix and a $500,0000 mess left in the city’s parks and along its walking trails.

“We are hopeful that there will be a federal declaration and that we can get some help,” Bauman said.

Arlington and Stanwood city officials share that hope.

Stanwood’s flood-cost tally as of Thursday was hovering around $82,000, finance director Crystil Collins said. But city administrator Joyce Papke said that doesn’t factor in expected damage to the city’s sewer treatment plant or emergency flood-control work done on the city’s behalf by the Army Corps of Engineers.

Arlington emergency management coordinator Chris Badger also said costs probably will be higher than the $100,000 damage estimate she now has for road and dike repair and clean-up costs.

Road repairs will require geotechnical surveys and the city engineer isn’t willing to commit to a dollar figure for that yet, Badger said.

Back at O’Brien’s Turkey House, owner Kerry O’Brien is operating with a small crew as his business recovers. This week he’s been busing tables and greeting his customers, who come in for hot turkey sandwiches, clam chowder and blackberry pie.

Despite an uncertain future, O’Brien is grateful for his dedicated staff and longtime loyal clientele.

“We had an army of folks come to help us do a deep cleaning job. People brought us lunch and one couple dropped off an envelope with some money that really helped us get going,” he said. “The phone rang off the hook. I think people are glad we’re back.”

Reporter Gale Fiege: 425-339-3427 or gfiege@heraldnet.com.