Floods wreak havoc

Published 9:00 pm Tuesday, November 7, 2006

The raging Snohomish River blasted a 30-foot hole through the French Slough levee Tuesday evening, prompting evacuations and highway closures and realizing the worst fears of Snohomish County emergency officials.

Highway 9 is closed indefinitely near Snohomish after floodwaters poured into the valley from the levee breach just south of Snohomish city limits.

U.S. 2 was closed in two locations Tuesday, with no detours, cutting off one of the major routes to Eastern Washington.

Showers and partly cloudy conditions are likely today, according to the National Weather Service. The prediction eases to “rain likely” tonight and Thursday. Heavier rain could return Thursday night and Friday with more rain on and off through Sunday.

Late Tuesday evening the Marshland Levy, near Fiddler’s Bluff outside Snohomish, also breached. Many residents had already evacuated earlier in the day.

Photo Gallery A lone person watches over a herd of cattle at an unidentified Snohomi… [ view gallery ]

If what experts are predicting comes to pass, it will be “the most significant flooding on record in the last 50 years,” Snohomish County Executive Aaron Reardon said.

“This is a significant flood. The water’s fast. The water’s high. At Stocker Field, all we could see were the backstops and the field lights,” said Reardon, after surveying the damage by helicopter. “I felt horrible for the people who live near the river.”

The county is in for a long fight.

Even after the water recedes, the saturated ground will be prone to sinkholes, slides and road erosion for days.

The last big flood to hit the county, in 2003, caused about $5 million in damage.

This flood is expected to be bigger.

“This is a catastrophic event,” Snohomish City Planner Larry Bauman said. “We won’t even know what the damage is until a few days, when the water recedes.”

Water had seeped into the city’s waste treatment plant, and the city’s diversion dam on the Pilchuck River was damaged. The extent of the damage was unknown Tuesday.

1990 record threatened

The Snohomish River was expected to set a new record this morning, cresting at 33.7 feet. That’s slightly higher than the record set in 1990.

Water began spilling over dikes Tuesday afternoon in the Ebey Island, French Slough and Marshland areas. Thousands of sandbags were being piled up throughout the day. Sheriff’s deputies were encouraging people to evacuate.

As floodwaters rose toward downtown Snohomish, a group of police officers and neighbors tried to coax residents who were reluctant to leave homes already surrounded by water.

Most complied with evacuation orders when rescuers arrived at their doorstep in rowboats.

“I just didn’t want to leave,” Suzanne Hawkesworth, 56, said once she was paddled ashore. “I’ve lived there for 20 years. It has an upstairs. Why wouldn’t we be safe?”

Brad and Susan Dennis worked all Monday night to protect their Lowell-Snohomish River Road home from the floodwaters. By Tuesday morning, they’d piled rows of sandbags across their garage and driveway entrance.

“Yesterday I was watching the river and I thought, ‘This isn’t going to be that bad,’ ” said Susan Dennis, 51, who moved to Snohomish from San Diego a year and half ago.

As the morning wore on, the Snohomish River began to lap up onto the road, threatening to spill over into her front yard, which sits below street level. She realized she would have to leave.

“I’m just going to keep praying and hope for the best,” she said. “But as I say that, I see the water keep rising. There are a lot of things you realize are out of your control.”

All schools in Snohomish, and the school in Index, will be closed today. As will Stanwood High School and the neighboring alternative Lincoln Hill High School, but other Stanwood schools will start on a late schedule. Other schools, including Sultan and Arlington, have limited transportation.

Levity in Snohomish

Widespread flooding didn’t dampen a lighter mood on First Street in Snohomish, where crowds gathered to watch the swollen river. Every store was open, and shoppers gazed at the river with the same levity as they browsed antiques and furniture.

Todo Mexico restaurant was serving enchiladas and margaritas even though the lower part of the building was flooded. A sidewalk sign for the restaurant advertised “Great River Views!”

Dick Henshaw, 77, a volunteer at the Visitor Center for Snohomish County Tourism on the banks of the Snohomish River, stood on the center’s deck mid-Tuesday morning and scoffed at the flood warnings.

“I grew up on the Ohio River in Indiana where this is an everyday occurrence,” he said as a giant tree stump was whisked down the river. “It would take another 10 feet for the water to get up here.”

By Tuesday afternoon, the center was locked and a sign on the door said, “Closed Due To Flooding.”

Upstream, the Snohomish River crested around noon.

Onlookers astonished

Mason Coberly of Monroe brought his children Caylin, 12, Zach, 10, and Alex, 6, to watch the waters rush by a flooded portion of the Old Monroe-Snohomish Road.

As logs and trees raced by in the torrent, the children looked on in astonishment.

“I think it’s just amazing what rain can do in our area,” Caylin said.

Trina and Allan Potter of Snohomish drove to take a look at the floodwaters and take a few pictures.

“We didn’t realize it came up so fast,” Trina Potter, 70, said. “This is terrible.”

U.S. 2 was closed about 5 miles east of Skykomish because of a massive rockslide and mudslide. The State Patrol closed the eastbound lanes of the highway four miles outside of Gold Bar, where the roadway sank.

It is unclear when the highway will be fixed.

County crews were able to evaluate a few other roads and found significant damage on the Mountain Loop Highway and the Index-Galena Road.

See Ye, 46, came to look at the rushing Snohomish River near where he rents a few acres and grows flowers on Short School Road.

Standing on a dike looking out over the river, the farmer from Shoreline was worried about his business.

“Stop rain; no more,” he said.

Herald reporters Julie Muhlstein, Sharon Salyer and Jeff Switzer contributed to this story.