A mudslide in the upper reaches of the Sultan River more than a week ago created a temporary dam that had emergency officials worried about flooding.
As it turns out, the river plunges so steeply at that location that there isn’t water enough behind the pile of mud and trees to do much more than cause a 6-inch swell if the dam were to give away.
“Even if that slide were to break through all at once, there isn’t really enough water there to damage anything downstream,” said Mike McCallister, coordinator of Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management.
A group of kayakers filmed the mudslide, but it’s in such a remote location that emergency staff decided not to inspect the site for now. They were able to tell how little water had built up behind the dam by measuring water flow through a downstream gauge in the moments after the slide occurred.
From the video, McCallister was able to tell it was a pretty big slide. A number of 60- to 80-foot trees crashed into the water along with some giant boulders and lots of mud.
“Had it not been for a fairly steep gradient, quite a bit of water could have built up,” he said.
McCallister said officials from his office, the city of Everett and others will take a look when the Snohomish County sheriff’s search and rescue helicopter is flying again. It’s currently down for routine maintenance.
Everett doesn’t use the river for water delivery but does release a fixed amount of water into the river every day to offset the effects its water treatment plant has on endangered salmon.
The slide has had no affect on city operations, Everett spokeswoman Kate Reardon said.
Reporter Lukas Velush: 425-339-3449 or lvelush@ heraldnet.com.
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