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Snohomish County taking emergency action to reduce flooding at Lake Serene

This is not the lakefront property Joe Drazich imagined when he bought his home along Lake Serene in Lynnwood last June.

He and his wife just moved in last week.

“It's disappointing,” Drazich said.

From Chopper 7 you can see how badly Lake Serene has flooded because an outflow pipe, on private property,has stopped working -preventing the lake from draining water.

Docks are underwater and water is flooding yards.

Drazich even built a berm all around his home to prevent water from getting inside.

You can also hear the constant hum of his sump pump draining water out of his crawlspace which has been flooded with 5 inches of water.

Before he bought the home, Drazich said he was told the home flooded the prior year but the problem had been resolved.

Snohomish County issued two emergency actions on Monday. One would build a temporary drain, the other proposed legislation to fund a permanent fix that would build a new drainage pipe that would be owned and operated by the county.

The new pipe would run underneath the boat launch.

The project would cost $850,000 with the 95 lakefront homeowners picking up part
of the cost at about $2,000 apiece.

“We think it's unfair,” added Drazich. “We think everyone in the watershed district for Lake Serene should equally pay. There's several hundred homes here, and if we paid equally, we can solve the problem.”

But Will Hall from Snohomish County’s Water Surface Management Division argues lakefront property owners are the ones directly impacted.

“They get a special benefit that is above and beyond what anyone else gets,” Hall explained. “So they have to share the costs.”

Drazich and his neighbors vow to fight. They’ve reached out to their councilwoman and are even considering a lawsuit.

“We're good neighbors,” Drazich said. “We don’t want a court battle, any of those kind of things, but we're right on the edge right now.”

The county said emergency work has already begun.