SEATTLE — Seattle’s South Park community experienced major flooding two weeks ago.
Dozens of families were forced to evacuate when King Tides rolled in and pushed the Duwamish river over its banks.
With King Tides expected later this month, city officials are working on a plan of action.
“It’s been really, really rough. I mean we lost most of our things downstairs including our baby nursery, and so it’s just been really brutal,” said Emily Lucey, who lives in the South Park neighborhood.
On December 27, Seattle’s South Park community flooded. On Tuesday morning, Seattle officials discussed the damage.
“To date, there are approximately 49 properties that have substantial damage, homes and businesses. There are 14 agencies involved, city departments and community-based organizations and also including King County,” said Curry Mayer, Director of Seattle’s Office of Emergency Management.
Officials say multiple reasons contributed to the flooding: very low pressure, extreme King Tide, and heavy rain resulting in the Duwamish River overtopping its banks.
The city says they’re already thinking ahead since King Tides are expected the week of Jan. 23, something that has families on edge.
“We’re really nervous about that, we’re anticipating and it’s hard to say, but we’re anticipating that there will be more flooding so we’re just leaving the basement completely empty,” said Lucey.
“We’ve identified several locations along the riverside where we observed the river overtopping during the Dec. 27 event and we will be placing strategically sandbags at low points along the river to prevent a similar overtopping,” said Andrew Lee with Seattle Public Utilities.
Lee said sandbags will also be available for the community and an incident command center will be set up ahead of time.
Lucey, who is expecting, says going forward, she’d like to know if the flood waters are being tested.
“I’m nervous about what’s in the water, they found that there was fecal bacteria in it, but they haven’t tested it for other chemicals, or they’ve tested it and the results haven’t come back,” said Lucey.
The city says they are looking for funding opportunities and are aware they need a significant investment to provide long-term protection.
As of now, they are in touch with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, FEMA and King County Flood control.
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