They remember the rising flood waters in the Snohomish River valley, especially the big years: 1975, 1990, 1995 and 1996.
The valley filled up like a bathtub, soaking the homes of residents who built in the flood plain.
“You can’t control the river. The floodwaters are going to keep coming,” said Mark Craven, who runs his family’s farm in the flood plain.
Craven’s 95-year-old grandmother, Lydia Krieger, has lived on the family’s farmland for more than 50 years.
“That’s been her home for all these years,” Craven said. “That’s where she wants to stay. She doesn’t want to go to a nursing home.”
This fall, Krieger’s home and three others are expected to be elevated out of harm’s way. New, taller foundations are planned to raise the homes as much as 10 feet, putting them above the flood plain’s high-water mark.
The work will cost an estimated $457,000 and will be paid for mostly by $343,000 in grants from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Homeowners are expected to pay 25 percent of construction costs.
The four houses are on a FEMA list of 115 homes repeatedly damaged by floods in Snohomish County. Owners reported $5 million in flood damage insurance claims for those houses over the years.
The four houses alone have over the years accounted for damage claims totaling $682,000, records show.
Flood insurance premiums cover flood damage, but federal taxes are paying to help elevate the homes out of the flood plain.
Steps taken to protect homes from flooding saves the federal government an estimated $8 for every dollar spent, FEMA Region 10 spokesman Michael Kundu said.
Many of the homes repeatedly damaged by floods are near French Slough along the Snohomish River. The county is targeting the area but more work is needed, said David Brookings, director of the county’s Surface Water Management department.
The federal grant program helps protect people from the dangers of flooding, and reduce flood damage claims, said Karen Wood-McGuiness, the county’s flood program coordinator.
“A lot of the homes were built a long, long time ago, and now we’re trying to be proactive and get them out of harm’s way,” Wood-McGuiness said.
When the water rises, belongings are hoisted onto counter tops. That hasn’t been high enough during some floods, Craven said.
Diking districts, the Army Corps of Engineers and Snohomish County have spent decades designing and building projects to minimize the damage from annual flooding along the Stillaguamish, Skykomish and Snohomish rivers. Some flood-prone properties near Sultan and on the North Fork Stillaguamish River were purchased from private owners using federal money, and one other home near Stanwood is being elevated using FEMA money.
Current building codes allow people to construct houses in the flood plain only if the living space of a home is one foot higher than the high-water marks on FEMA maps.
Also, foundations must have vents to allow water to pass through. Property owners are barred from building in the flood way, where rising river water flows swift and dangerous.
Often, homeowners don’t want to be bought out or move from the flood plain, said Steven Rudolph, FEMA senior hazard mitigation assistance specialist. Sometimes they’re farmers who want to stick close to the land and work.
His agency works to find property owners willing to sell or elevate their homes under these programs.
Carolyn Jensen’s home also is slated to be elevated. Her family raised their land more than eight feet before building a home in Snohomish River valley in the early 1970s.
At the time, the house wasn’t in the flood plain and didn’t need flood insurance, she said.
In 1975, the year after they moved in, flood water rose a foot deep inside the house.
A stranger — she thinks of him as a guardian angel — rowed up in a boat and carried her to dry land, Jensen said.
“It’s a horrible mess to clean up after,” Jensen said. “You scrub and think everything is clean. As soon as it dries, there’s a film all over everything again.”
Federal maps later changed and their land was labeled flood plain, requiring the family to get flood insurance.
“My house is not where you’d think of a flood,” said Jensen, who grows hay for her flock of sheep and a neighbor’s cattle. “I’m not by the river.”
She wasn’t home in 1990 when water ruined her furniture. Every flood has ruined wallboard, carpet and belongings, she said.
After the back-to-back 1995 and 1996 floods, Jensen had a concrete wall poured around her house to serve as a dike, she said. The 2006 floods went elsewhere, so she didn’t get to test it, she said.
With a taller foundation, there’s a better chance her house will be kept high and dry, she said.
“I am still waiting to hear how high they want to put my house up,” Jensen said. “I’ve not seen anything in writing. Hopefully it will be done before the next flood season.”
Reporter Jeff Switzer: 425-339-3452 or jswitzer@heraldnet.com.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
