Local

Residents return home 10 months after flood near Granite Falls

GRANITE FALLS, Wash. — Ten and a half months after their bridge was washed away by flood waters, people who live and own property off Mountain Loop Highway near Granite Falls are going home.

KIRO 7 first told you about the wash-out last December.  The road is owned by the Forest Service but the agency doesn't have the funds to fix it permanently.

As a result, Rich White says what used to be his sanctuary deep in the Mount Baker Snoqualmie National Forest is now rotting away.

"With it being closed up all this time and not being able to be here taking care of it — it's definitely musty," White said, as we stepped inside the A-frame.

Mice have eaten away at the interior; weeds have overtaken the exterior.

"It's bad. This is my home," he said, looking around the ground floor.

Rich has only been able to get to his home a few times over the last year, all of them by boat. The only bridge to Rich's place and about 20 other properties on Forest Road 4037 was washed away last November.

In a letter to residents, the Forest Service explained that it “is not, nor does it function as a public roads agency," and they have been unable to find an alternative funding source.

The Forest Service told property owners the best thing to do may be to start an association or a road district and apply for funds to make the repairs themselves.

Yet the agency does want to help, so this week they spent about $50,000 to move it — but only temporarily.

Rich and his neighbors have nine days to get their belongings and secure their properties before the Forest Service removes the bridge, not stable enough they say to survive another flood.

"There's absolutely no reason for them to be taking it back out. You know, I've lived here for over 15 years, paying my house payments and taxes," White said. He says he's still paying down his mortgage and owes around $40,000 on the house.

Others, like Ivan Neering, who lives in Lake Stevens are new to Forest Road 4037.

"When you bought it, though, were you under the impression that road would be maintained by the Forest Service?" we asked Neering, as he showed us his property across from White's.

"True, yes, nothing was disclosed or written in paper that it was a risk that you could lose the bridge or the road," Neering answered.

Neering said he still plans to build a cabin on the land, but getting to it will be a challenge.

"It's a good hike," he admitted, and then there's a river crossing of course.

White is the only full-time resident on FR 4037, so this is his only home. He said nine days isn't enough time to move a lifetime of memories he shouldn't have to.

"It's terrible," he concluded.