OSO – A storm expected late Friday night had riverfront residents worried that their homes could be under water this weekend.
Elizabeth Armstrong / The Herald
They worked with emergency workers all day Friday trying to deal with a massive landslide that had dammed the North Fork Stillaguamish River near this tiny community about 15 miles east of Arlington.
The slide, which happened Wednesday, dropped the face of a large hillside across the river. The river is now spilling through a narrow, wooded strip of land near about 10 homes on Steelhead Drive.
One low-lying recreational cabin already had water up to its front stoop. Others could be next if the river rises.
High water could come Sunday or Monday, emergency officials told volunteers and residents Friday at the Oso Fire Station.
On Friday, the river volume was low, about 2,000 cubic feet per second, but the anticipated winter storm could swell the Stilly to 10,000 cubic feet per second by Sunday or Monday, said Chris Badger, emergency coordinator for the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management.
That would be bad news for the neighborhood.
“That whole area would be under water,” Badger said.
We’re encouraging people to prepare to evacuate,” county engineer Owen Carter said.
Carter added that it wouldn’t be a bad idea for residents to start removing things from their homes even before the official word to evacuate comes.
In the meantime, emergency workers tried to find a way to prevent the flooding. By 2 p.m., volunteers, residents and inmate work crews from the Monroe Correctional Center had filled almost 1,000 sandbags and loaded them into pickups at a former cedar mill site on Highway 530 to be taken to the homes in danger.
Consulting with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and local agencies, emergency officials called in machinery to help clear debris from the river’s new path through the woods so the debris didn’t further divert the water.
“We’re trying to encourage the river to form a new channel away from the structures,” Carter said.
Residents appreciated the help, even as some wondered how much the engineering efforts would help.
Standing on his inundated concrete driveway with water inches from his toes, Lon Slauson tried to keep his dry sense of humor.
“I could just turn this into a boat dock and set up a bait stand,” he said.
The river used to be 1,200 feet from his driveway, he said. Now the river is in his driveway, and the edge of the slide is only 700 feet away.
“It was a little tense, because I didn’t know where it was going to stop,” Slauson said.
He already had put his important papers, pictures and keepsakes in containers, ready to haul out if need be.
Next door, Mary Ruth Ryan had enlisted the help of a few neighbors wearing waders to bring her valuables from her small cabin, which was surrounded by thigh-deep water. They brought out household items and unplugged her solar batteries, placing them on the kitchen sink in hopes of keeping them dry.
“I really appreciate that,” Ryan said.
Given that her cabin was a recreational home, she sympathized with her neighbors who live there full-time.
“I mean, it’s kind of silly when people have their life savings, and I’ve got to worry about wicker chairs,” Ryan said. “The bad part is, it could get higher.”
Reporter Scott Morris: 425-339-3292 or smorris@heraldnet.com.
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