Flooding in Shoreline, LFP

Overflowing streams and backed up storm drains caused problems in both Shoreline and Lake Forest Park as rainfall hit an all-time record Oct. 20.

Sea-Tac International Airport reported 5.02 inches of rain in a 24 hour period, beating a 1981 record of 3.74 inches. Shoreline and Lake Forest Park public works officials received dozens of flood calls.

In Lake Forest Park, Lyon Creek topped its bank and flooded the intersection of Brookside Blvd. and Bothell Way, the entrance to the mall at 170th and Bothell Way and in the parking lot of Towne Centre between Starbucks and Skippers restaurant. A culvert there, maintained by the mall management, could not handle the increased flow, said Frank Zenk, public works director for Lake Forest Park.

“The HOV lane was flooded so we shut that down, and there is flooding right behind the fire station there, with one house receiving a great deal of water around it because it’s in a low spot there and the creek topped over,” Zenk said.

About five years ago the city widened the stream channel in front of and in back of the mall to enlarge the holding capacity and keep this kind of flooding from happening as often, said Planning Director Ty Peterson. At one point the city considered cleaning out the culvert but because it’s a stream and not just a storm system, local environmentalists and neighbors threatened to appeal the procedure so the city dropped the idea, Peterson said.

The city is conducting a study to look at options for redeveloping the mall site and environmental and storm water system concerns will be examined in that, he said.

Lake Forest Park public works received “dozens of calls in regards to local yard and driveway drains that have not been able to keep up with the water flow,” Zenk said. Lake Forest Park city staff was directing callers to go up to Brugger’s Bog at 25th and Ballinger Way to fill sand bags at the King County Public Utilities station there.

Water was also pouring off of a construction site and rushing down the street of a new development being build in the 19500 block of 55th Avenue NE in Lake Forest Park. City staff contacted the contractor who sent a crew out to laid straw down, construct check dams for intermediate erosion control and crack wider holes in the catch basins so the water was no longer flowing down the street, said Peterson.

There was also some minor flooding at City Hall.

“We did have some water coming into a side door at city hall, but it was pretty minimal and we mopped it up,” Zenk said.

McAleer Creek was running high, but did not run over, Zenk said.

“McAleer Creek has kept inside its banks and it currently has about six inches to about a foot before it goes over.”

In Shoreline, public works officials received over 70 calls for service on flooding problems ranging from plugged drains in the street to flooding in yards to flooding in housing space, said Paul Haines, Public Works Director.

The most severe area of flooding was at 3rd Avenue NW at 185th Street where several homes were flooded.

“We have unplugged a catch basin in someone’s back yard that may have been the culprit so we are hoping it will fix the area,” Haines said. The city installed a pumping system to diverted some of the water into a park upstream as a detention area.

“This is the worst I’ve ever seen in the 30 years I’ve lived here,” one property owner near 3rd Avenue NW told public works.

Another site was between 10th and 11th Avenue NE at 175th Street where a property was significantly flooded. The city closed down 25th Avenue NE near Ballinger Way because of flooding and was considering closing a southbound lane of Aurora Avenue North at between 172nd and 174th.

City officials were watching closely Ronald Bog, which had not yet crested, and an area in the Happy Valley neighborhood at the bottom of 183rd Avenue NE, which has experienced flooding in past years.

The city plans to make drainage improvements at 3rd Ave. NW and at Ronald Bog in the next two years as a part of the city’s capital improvement plan, Haines said.