SUMAS, Wash. — The city of Sumas remains closed off after severe floods closed every road in or out of town.
Residents were told to evacuate on Wednesday and are expected to be able to return on Saturday.
City leaders report no injuries or deaths. They credit the early evacuation with saving lives.
The roads into the border town remained closed Friday afternoon, but KIRO 7 crews were allowed through to document the destruction.
Much of the city remains underwater, but officials are not yet sure of the extent of the damage.
“It’s devastating. It’s just devastating. It is so sad to see this happen,” fire chief Jerry DeBruin said. “You know, we always talk about the river. And can we do anything about the river? Can we make it better, get to where it doesn’t flood?”
DeBruin’s firehouse was among the structures damaged by the floodwaters. The fire station sat in three feet of water through the majority of the ordeal, meaning rescue crews had to stage elsewhere.
Firefighters used large brush trucks, loaders, jet skis and rafts to get stranded people out of the water. They were aided at times by Border Patrol agents and the US Coast Guard, which used a helicopter to pull people from a house in hazardous waters.
Mayor Bruce Bosch said the majority of the city evacuated. He compared that to the city’s last severe flood in 2021, ahead of which there was little warning.
“It was very successful,” Bosch said. “Last flood, we had to rescue about 1,000 people. This time around, it was only about 30. It was a big difference.”
Officials said the majority of the flooding came after a nearby railroad washed out. Gravel and crossties from the railroad were left scattered across downtown. Wood from a nearby lumberyard was carried hundreds of feet away.
Residents repeatedly questioned how a “100-year flood” can happen twice in four years.
“You know, the thing about a 100-year flood is it’s a common parlance for an event that has a 1% chance of happening every year,” Matt Klein of Whatcom County Emergency Management said. “Unfortunately, we rolled low a couple years in a row. That’s just the nature of probability.”
Klein told KIRO 7 about 60 families are at shelters set up in nearby Lynden, and urged people to fill out the proper paperwork in order to secure FEMA funding as they return home.
It remains to be seen how livable those homes will be once they get there. The process of rebuilding for a second time seems daunting, but many are confident it’s possible.
“We just tried to make the best of it and have a good attitude. There is nothing you can do. Mother nature is going to do her thing. So, we just want to have a positive attitude and when it’s time to get back to work and do the cleanup, get back to work and roll our sleeves up,” Scott Noteboom, who lives in Sumas, said. “It’s a tough community and the people here are very remarkable.”
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