For Shelley Gomovitz, last week’s flood was the all time worst that Rosecrest, her 100-acre Yeager Road farm, had ever experienced. “This is way worse than 2006,” she said, pausing with a water bucket Thursday at the Evergreen State Fairgrounds, where she’d brought her 60 horses to emergency shelter. “In 2006, we had maybe 10 acres flood. Now, we have about 90 acres underwater. Property that’s never been flooded is flooded.”
When she bought the acreage about six years ago, locals pointed out the 100-year flood marks, she said. Those marks were underwater Thursday morning.
Throughout the county, as heavy rains poured atop December’s unusually heavy snow, some areas were hit harder than ever before, while other’s escaped without significant flooding.
Monroe
Some creeks, such as Woods Creek, rose to stunning new heights, creating flooding so severe that even lifetime residents had never seen anything like it.
“My neighbor’s been here since the 60s and she said this is worse than it’s ever been,” said one man, wading thigh-deep through foaming brown water that turned the bridge of his Woods Creek Road driveway into a hump-like island resembling the back of the Loch Ness monster. Above his farm, a flopping tangle of rhododendrons and evergreens tipped upside down toward Woods Creek Road, as the earth in which they were rooted gave way and slid downhill, one of many landslides in the region.
A few blocks south, residents of the Monroe Motel and trailer park watched glumly as cocoa-colored water spilled spectacularly over the brimming banks of Woods Creek, turning their yards and parking spaces into a lake and their homes to islands.
“We had to empty all the hotel rooms and the places in the back,” said motel manager Jeff Hill. “I think this is worse than 2006. This is pretty amazing.”
Many of the residents evacuated, but some stayed, hoping that the water wouldn’t force them out. “I’ve still got a foot till it goes in my place,” said Carl Blanchard, who has lived there nearly nine years, nodding toward an RV. Water had reached the propane tanks in front, but had not yet reached his top step.
The Evergreen State Fairgrounds, which has served as an emergency animal shelter since 2006, wasn’t ready for a flood when the rain started to fall Wednesday. Many of the stalls had been disassembled for painting and floor improvements. But fair staff hustled to put the horse barns back together as ranchers began to arrive.
In all, 191 horses, four zebras, two goats, about 60 chickens were housed at the fairgrounds. “The people have been fantastic,” said Gomovitz. “They had people bringing in horses at midnight.”
South of Monroe, the Tualco Valley was inundated, leaving dairy farmers to milk cows in barns filled with several inches of water. And the town of Duvall was cut off entirely by floodwater that destroyed the Woodinville-Duvall road and badly damaged other roads, including SR 203, which was closed.
Sultan
In Sultan, flooding was hit-or-miss. “It’s been really different,” said lifelong resident Debbie Copple Friday. “People who usually don’t have issues got lots of water.”
City councilman Jim Flowers, who lives and operates a metal shop near Wagley Creek, was flooded out when that creek rose. Other outlying roads were flooded, including Ben Howard Road, Mann Road, and Sultan Basin Road. But the downtown itself was spared.
“It was only up to Sultan John’s feet,” said Judy Lewis, referring to the statue of Native American resident “Sultan” John that stands in frequently-flooded River Park near the confluence of the Sultan and Skykomish rivers. In a really bad flood, the water reaches past the statue’s knees.
Flood waters extended several blocks into the downtown, reaching at one point as far as Third and Main, but not nearly to the extent of the 2006 floods. That didn’t keep townspeople from setting out plenty of sandbags, just in case. That task was easier than ever before, thanks to a stroke of inspiration after flooding in 2008. “They started saving the sandbags,” said Copple. “I don’t know why we never thought of that before.”
The water was hard on roads in the area, though. Above the town on Old Owen Road, Snohomish County Road Maintenance worker Pete Steele took a quick break from trying to reopen that road after a landslide buried about 40 feet of it. “We already took 20 dump truck loads off the road and the rest of the bank is about to come down,” he said. “I’ll bet this road is closed all weekend.”
There were no injuries, but one pair of people had to be rescued by helicopter from the roof of a car on Mann Road. They had driven into the water to find it was too high to cross, then called for help.
Gold Bar and Index
Gold Bar, too, escaped without drastic flooding, as did Index, although water was very high. Flood stage on the Skykomish in Gold Bar is reached at 15 feet; Thursday it peaked over 18 feet.
Creeks around Gold Bar were also running at record rates. “The Wallace was higher than ever, and May Creek was as high as I’ve ever seen it,” said city councilman Joe Beavers.
The outlying areas were flooded, and rescue workers evacuated one home at midnight when rising waters cut the occupants off from escape.
In the Big Bend and Greenwater Meadows developments, often damaged badly in floods, most residents escaped major harm. One homeowner wanted to be doubly sure, and hired a company to raise his house six feet as the river behind his home swelled.
Residents didn’t have to do as much as usual in Index; partly due to the very weather that was causing the flooding. Sandbags already lined much of Index’s river frontage, and were covered then by deep snow, which formed a natural berm against the water.
For more information on a major landslide that destroyed a road near Index, see Steve Higgins’ special report in the Valley News section of this issue.
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