When flood waters across Washington state began rising last December, Mike Khzak’s home became the unfortunate face of the devastation.
His video circulated worldwide, showing his two-story home floating down the Nooksack River. He was the victim of years of flooding that slowly ate away at his property, and this past winter’s storms delivered the final blow.
“The first night I was on those rocks, just like watching them, and I was like, ‘oh man, it’s going to be close,’” Khazak said.
It was despite years of efforts to try and prevent what he now sees as almost a certain fate.
He had spent tens of thousands of dollars on rock to fortify against floodwaters.
What was a one-time down payment, Khazak says he should have looked at the bank like a savings account, and kept depositing boulders into the riverbank.
“You always feel like one little rock just in the perfect spot was going to be the one to get you that extra year,” Khazak said, “I don’t feel that way anymore. It was going to do what it was going to do.”
A makeshift buoy system strapped between trees gave Khazak an idea of the increasing speed of the water over the first two-day storm of a multi-week cascade of atmospheric rivers that hammered the Puget Sound region.
That, and constantly checking the NOAA flood prediction website proved to be his lone warning system.
“It was supposed to crest at 10 p.m. And I was out there at like 9:45. I was out there 10:50 and I was like, ‘yes, another year,’” Khazak said, “I looked at the river forecast and they changed it from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m.”
“I’ve never heard anyone who lives up here say anything about any kind of evacuation stuff,” Khazak said.
Khazak was unaware an evacuation text system had been set up for the area years before.
As the Cascadia Daily News reported, some residents didn’t get the alerts they were expecting.
What happened in the system and what is Khzak doing to fix it before the next flooding season?
Tune into KIRO 7 News at 5:30 p.m. for answers.