EVERETT — The Snohomish County Public Utility District has filed a $1.1 million suit against the city of Everett to pay for flood damage it suffered in 2013.
Heavy rains on Aug. 29 that year overfilled the city’s combined stormwater and sewer system, causing major sewage backups in the north end of the city.
One of the affected properties was the headquarters of the PUD at 2320 California St.
The sewage backup flooded the basements and some adjacent areas of two of the PUD’s buildings.
“There was some relocation of some of our space and employees during the cleanup phases,” PUD spokesman Neil Neroutsos said.
While the mess was cleaned up and the city has been working to prevent future problems, straightening out the monetary damages has taken longer.
Since the flooding, the city has paid out more than $3.2 million to settle 165 damage claims from residential and commercial property owners.
Everett Communications Director Meghan Pembroke said there were 13 claims still open, but many have become inactive, meaning the claimants are no longer pursuing the claim or the city has been unable to reach them.
The city estimates it will still pay out on another three or four claims, Pembroke said.
Everett also instituted a backwater valve installation program for the flood-prone north end, with the dual goals of preventing more sewer backups and reducing or eliminating the city’s liability.
Neroutsos said the PUD filed its own claim with the city in July 2014.
A lawsuit filed in Snohomish County Superior Court on Oct. 29 would indicate the PUD hasn’t been satisfied with that process.
Neroutsos wouldn’t comment on the content of the suit. The city had not yet been served, Pembroke said, and hasn’t filed a response with the court.
In any event, negotiations over the PUD’s initial claim continue, she said.
The suit filed in Snohomish County Superior Court lists five causes against the city, ranging from negligence to product liability and nuisance. The case is based on the PUD’s assertion that, among other things, the city failed to properly design, operate, inspect, maintain, clean and monitor its sewer system, and also failed to properly respond to the overflow at the PUD’s facilities.
The PUD has estimated damages totalling slightly less than $1.1 million.
The suit also leaves open possible other not yet identified individual defendants who, the PUD said in its filing, “were involved in the design, manufacture, maintenance and/or repair of the sewer system and its subcomponents associated with the Snohomish PUD’s Facilities.”
Chris Winters: 425-374-4165; cwinters@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @Chris_At_Herald.
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