Home collapsing into the Raging River

A home near Preston is about to collapse into the Raging River.

Dean and Brenda Ralphs moved out with their young children on Tuesday, after living in the home for 14 years. The earth is eroding underneath the house, which is perched above the river. They think they’ve lost between 30 and 40 more feet of their yard in the last week.

Now, inspectors think it is about 18 feet from the foundation giving way. The house was deemed unsafe and yellow-tagged by King County on Wednesday.

“Nature’s fighting us on this one and we’re not going to win,” said Dean Ralphs. “We’ve kind of done our grieving on the house; we’ve had 14 good years here with some good memories. We’re just going to have to move on.”

The Ralphs have given up on saving the house. They’re even working to see if they can get it demolished before it collapses, so it doesn’t damage salmon habitat. But it’s complicated because they still have a mortgage.

Their insurance doesn’t cover damage like this -- subsidence of soil.

Now they hope everyone with damage from the last storm will report it to King County.

>>Click here to find out how you can report damage.

The damage totals will go to the state and the feds, which could lead to federal help from FEMA.

“It’s just sad. It’s our home. I thought I was going to retire here, get our kids off to college,” said Brenda Ralphs.

Friends have set up a GoFundMe account to help the Ralphs.

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