County reimbursing landowners for damage during search and rescue

OSO — Snohomish County government has written more than a quarter-million dollars in checks to landowners whose property was damaged by search and rescue operations after the fatal March 22 mudslide.

Within the first few days, lawyers with the county prosecutor’s office determined that landowners would need to be paid for the damage from the rescue efforts.

Land-use agreements were reached as crews set up tents and first aid stations and created gravel parking lots on private land.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency is expected to reimburse the county for those costs, said Gary Haakenson, the county manager overseeing slide recovery. The standard rate is $100 a day for using someone’s land in a disaster response.

The burden is on the property owners, though, to provide receipts, pictures and other proof of the damage, Haakenson said.

They face a complicated bidding process. The county is helping with the paperwork.

So far, $282,000 has been paid to eight property owners. The eighth check went out last week.

That does not cover damage from the mudslide itself, or the flooding that followed, just the rescue and recovery efforts.

The county still is negotiating with others.

“Most people have been pretty fair,” Haakenson said. “They understand there was a reason why their property had to be used.”

Don and Elaine Young lost neighbors in the slide. They ferried supplies across their land to the recovery workers, who included their son, Coby, 20. Flooding from the North Fork Stillaguamish River, which was dammed by mud, destroyed half of the Youngs’ home. The mud backflowed through the small creek that crosses their 12 acres. For weeks, their home along Highway 530 was a staging ground.

The Youngs were approached by the county about compensation before they had time to think about the damage, Elaine Young said.

They were focused on life and death, not dirt and fences, she said.

“We said, ‘Use what you need to use, do what you need to, we don’t care,’ ” she said. “We never asked.”

With the $82,000 from the county, the Youngs plan to hire local contractors. The work will involve removing bark, gravel and debris, repairing the driveway, putting up new fencing and replanting fields. Big rigs crisscrossed their property to reach the debris field, knocking down acres of fencing.

Cory and Julie Kuntz were the Youngs’ neighbors. They paid another visit to their property last week.

It looks so much different now.

The slide destroyed their home while they were on their way to watch their son’s high school baseball game. Their eight-acre plot was damaged again during the rescue and recovery efforts. Crews cut down trees, moved dirt and laid down gravel.

The county paid the couple $35,747.

It seems a fair price, given the restoration work that needed to be done, Julie said.

“No one wants to profit from it,” she said.

The couple remains in housing limbo. They’re renting in town as they continue to work with FEMA, hoping an agreement can be reached on the slide-caused damage.

It is still too early to know if they will be able to build again on the land. Even if they can, they don’t know if they will, given the sad memories.

Both are Darrington High School graduates. Their roots run deep and they want to stay in the Stillaguamish Valley.

They just can’t imagine finding another place as nice as what they once had.

“I heard a lot of the neighbors say we live in a little piece of heaven,” she said.

In addition to their grief, some slide survivors are living with around-the-clock construction.

Elaine Young tries to focus on little projects, helping her neighbors, to stay busy.

The rank smell of the mud still permeates her home.

“Everybody forgets, but we still live it every day,” she said.

Rikki King: 425-339-3449; rking@heraldnet.com.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

A firefighter stands in silence before a panel bearing the names of L. John Regelbrugge and Kris Regelbrugge during the ten-year remembrance of the Oso landslide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Flood of emotions’ as Oso Landslide Memorial opens on 10th anniversary

Friends, family and first responders held a moment of silence at 10:37 a.m. at the new 2-acre memorial off Highway 530.

Julie Petersen poses for a photo with images of her sister Christina Jefferds and Jefferds’ grand daughter Sanoah Violet Huestis next to a memorial for Sanoah at her home on March 20, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. Peterson wears her sister’s favorite color and one of her bangles. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
‘It just all came down’: An oral history of the Oso mudslide

Ten years later, The Daily Herald spoke with dozens of people — first responders, family, survivors — touched by the deadliest slide in U.S. history.

Victims of the Oso mudslide on March 22, 2014. (Courtesy photos)
Remembering the 43 lives lost in the Oso mudslide

The slide wiped out a neighborhood along Highway 530 in 2014. “Even though you feel like you’re alone in your grief, you’re really not.”

Director Lucia Schmit, right, and Deputy Director Dara Salmon inside the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Oso slide changed local emergency response ‘on virtually every level’

“In a decade, we have just really, really advanced,” through hard-earned lessons applied to the pandemic, floods and opioids.

Ron and Gail Thompson at their home on Monday, March 4, 2024 in Oso, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In shadow of scarred Oso hillside, mudslide’s wounds still feel fresh

Locals reflected on living with grief and finding meaning in the wake of a catastrophe “nothing like you can ever imagine” in 2014.

Lynnwood
Crash in Lynnwood fully blocks Highway 99

The crash, on Highway 99 at 176th Street SW, fully blocked southbound lanes. Traffic was diverted to 168th Street SW.

The view of Mountain Loop Mine out the window of a second floor classroom at Fairmount Elementary on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
County: Everett mining yard violated order to halt work next to school

At least 10 reports accused OMA Construction of violating a stop-work order next to Fairmount Elementary. A judge will hear the case.

Imagine Children's Museum's incoming CEO, Elizabeth "Elee" Wood. (Photo provided by Imagine Children's Museum)
Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett will welcome new CEO in June

Nancy Johnson, who has led Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett for 25 years, will retire in June.

Kelli Littlejohn, who was 11 when her older sister Melissa Lee was murdered, speaks to a group of investigators and deputies to thank them for bringing closure to her family after over 30 years on Thursday, March 28, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘She can rest in peace’: Jury convicts Bothell man in 1993 killing

Even after police arrested Alan Dean in 2020, it was unclear if he would stand trial. He was convicted Thursday in the murder of Melissa Lee, 15.

Ariel Garcia, 4, was last seen Wednesday morning in an apartment in the 4800 block of Vesper Dr. (Photo provided by Everett Police)
Search underway to find missing Everett child, 4

Ariel Garcia was last seen Wednesday morning at an apartment in the 4800 block of Vesper Drive.

The rezoned property, seen here from the Hillside Vista luxury development, is surrounded on two sides by modern neighborhoods Monday, March 25, 2024, in Lake Stevens, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Despite petition, Lake Stevens OKs rezone for new 96-home development

The change faced resistance from some residents, who worried about the effects of more density in the neighborhood.

Rep. Suzan DelBene, left, introduces Xichitl Torres Small, center, Undersecretary for Rural Development with the U.S. Department of Agriculture during a talk at Thomas Family Farms on Monday, April 3, 2023, in Snohomish, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Under new federal program, Washingtonians can file taxes for free

At a press conference Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene called the Direct File program safe, easy and secure.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.