LYNNWOOD — Heavy rainfall earlier this month was a reminder. It doesn’t take much to start flooding along Lynnwood’s Scriber Creek.
The Feb. 9 storm brought around an inch of rain, most of it before noon. Usually, that amount of water would spill over roads and driveways near the creek. This time it was exacerbated by melting ice and snow. One of the twin culverts busted in the business complex near Wilcox Park along 196th Street SW. A driveway over the culvert also collapsed.
The culverts are on private property, and the city can’t spend money there. However, staff are working with the owner to fast-track the fixes. That part of the creek is essential to flood management, said Jared Bond, Lynnwood’s environmental and surface water supervisor.
Scriber Creek’s flooding has been studied for a long time. A recent review by a consultant was sought alongside input from a committee of staff, neighbors and business owners. They compared their personal experiences and photos with the city’s data and hydraulic analysis.
Scriber Creek is Lynnwood’s largest natural drainage system, covering some 3,000 acres. The area under scrutiny is the stretch from Scriber Lake to Highway 99, about three-quarters of a mile.
The City Council adopted the consultant’s final report last month. It identifies up to 11 potential projects that could provide protection up to a 25-year flood level. “There’s really no project standing alone that could do it,” Bond said.
Four of the projects are on private property. In deciding where to start, the city has to consider the price tag along with legal and environmental factors. If resources were endless, and everything in the report was completed, the cost could run up to $6.7 million, said Robert Victor, a city project manager.
Lynnwood could acquire flood-prone parcels, particularly between 188th Street SW and 191st Street SW, if the owners wanted to sell.
“Instead of trying to fix Mother Nature out there, it would be allowing it to flood, which is what the creek wants to do at times,” Bond said.
As for the collapsed culvert near Wilcox Park, the repair work to bring that spot up to a 25-year flood level would be around $630,000 for the property owner, according to the city’s math. The culvert’s twin nearby also needs repairs, and those could run $440,000. A shorter term emergency repair is more likely for now.
City staff are sympathetic to the property owner’s challenges in facing that kind of bill, Bond said. At the same time, they’re worried the backup might cause more flooding upstream, including around the Casa Del Rey apartments. Flooding damages businesses and homes, disrupts lives and causes heartbreak, Bond said. The city has posed the argument that the driveway is part of a fire lane, and therefore a life-safety issue.
“With (Scriber Creek) failed like that, if we get another nasty rain storm, there could be some really serious problems,” Bond said. “That area is going to continue to erode.”
Letting things stay the same along the creek isn’t an option, Victor said.
“We have to pick a section and correct that section, and then we can go on to the next section,” he said. “It’s a divide and conquer approach.”
Rikki King: 425-339-3449; rking@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @rikkiking.
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