TULALIP — Over a month after a burst culvert destroyed a neighborhood road on the Tulalip Reservation, a makeshift wooden footbridge now spans the washed-out road for those trying to get to work or school.
Underneath, the improvised walkways initially put down by neighbors were beginning to wash away this week.
Plans for permanent repairs to the road remain up in the air.
On Wednesday, Snohomish County spokesperson Kent Patton said officials are working with the Aqua Hills Homeowners Association in the neighborhood along Mission Creek to find resources for emergency repairs. A damage estimate for reconstruction had not yet been determined, Patton said.
“We don’t have anything significant to report,” Patton wrote in an email Wednesday.
Homeowners association leaders declined to comment “until things are solidified.”
Debris from beavers and cattails in Mission Creek clogged the 1,000-ton culvert pipe beneath the road in the 6500 block of 12th Avenue NW. Around 3 p.m. March 1, overwhelmed by rainwater, it exploded.
Having spent decades degrading, the pipe couldn’t withstand millions of gallons of fluid.
Snohomish County Executive Dave Somers ordered a state of emergency last month to aid the 23 residents in Aqua Hills, who had limited access to food, water or medical care.
The executive order calls for the county to obtain emergency permits for road repairs and take any other actions “deemed necessary” for residents.
“The population of the homeowners affected includes multiple residents who are physically challenged and cannot safely walk across the creek in its current state to get to a drivable road on the other side of the creek,” Somers wrote in the declaration, specifically citing one resident at risk of a stroke.
The burst culvert also cut off the waterline that served Aqua Hills homes, Somers wrote. Neighbors have since been using an improvised hose and pipe system to get water, Patton said.
Tribal officials warned residents about the state of their culvert a decade ago, Tulalip Tribes Chairwoman Teri Gobin said last month.
The houses and road are on “fee land,” meaning there were no land restrictions on their purchase of the property. Many of the residents are non-Native. The tribes do not own or permit the road, therefore has no authority to maintain it, Tulalip Tribes spokesperson Niki Cleary said Tuesday.
On a quiet Wednesday afternoon, rain poured down in the neighborhood.
The homeowners association president, Steve Hall, asked a reporter to not try to talk with residents.
Maya Tizon: 425-339-3434; maya.tizon@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @mayatizon.
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