darcilicious
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Forest Grove, OR
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1 edit |  [WA] King County / Green River Flooding this Winter
My mom lives in Kent and mentioned in an email today that it's possible that there will be serious flooding this winter due to an issue with the Hansom Dam that has been controlling water flow / preventing flooding since before its completion in 1962.
Most of you in the area have probably already heard about this but just in case you've been living under a rock and only visit dslreports.com 
»www.kingcounty.gov/safety/FloodP···ley.aspx
»news.yahoo.com/s/time/20090930/u···92650300
And a very good video from the public meeting held on 9/9:
»king.granicus.com/ASX.php?publis···adb9f79e
More videos at youtube.com:
»www.youtube.com/results?search_q···pe=&aq=f
And even if you're not in the area, this is great site on emergency planning:
»www.govlink.org/3days3ways/
Let's everybody be safe this winter!
EDIT: Oh, I totally forgot about this very cool and new tool they're providing: »www.rpin.org/rpinweb/
You can sign up for notifications via email, text, etc. -- anyone can sign up so if like me, you don't live in the area but need to keep an eye on the situation. |
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drew
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Port Orchard, WA
clubs: | Wow.
1 in 3 chance?
That's awful. |
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darcilicious
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Forest Grove, OR | It is pretty scary. My Mom heard that the chance has been reduced to 1 in 4 and as they complete the near-term repairs, it may drop further to 1 in 6. Still, given the amount of rain/storms that come through the area... yeah, scary. |
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drew
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Port Orchard, WA
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| As if 1:6 is all that much better. It's better, but wow!
I don't have the time to read through all the material, but I read some of it but didn't see a plan to get this taken care of permanently. Is there one?
There's some commentary to be made about the "get flood insurance" bit, but that might be a little serious for this kind of forum.
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darcilicious
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Forest Grove, OR | I'm pretty sure they're aiming for a permanent fix of the dam -- it's not like they can NOT fix it  |
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drew
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Port Orchard, WA
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| Well saying "Hey guys, we should fix this" is a bit different than the 9 point plan to fix it. I haven't seen the 9 point plan. That's all.
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darcilicious
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| "The Corps plans to construct a concrete cutoff wall as a permanent fix within the next three to five years." from »www.pnwlocalnews.com/south_king/···442.html |
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drew
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Port Orchard, WA
clubs: | Ehhhhh
Maybe they should push that up  |
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darcilicious
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1 edit | Because you think they're delaying it by choice? Maybe I'm just too gullible but I sat through Wright's entire presentation from 9/9 and it seemed pretty clear to me that he takes his job seriously: to protect the lives and property in the valley. So yeah, maybe I'm not cynical enough. |
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drew
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Port Orchard, WA
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| I doubt it's the Army Corps' decision to make it wait that long.
There's a reason (probably budgetary) that it can't happen sooner. Since the government is going to be paying through the nose from flood insurance claims and THEN pay for a permanent solution, wouldn't it be more fiscally prudent to figure out how to do it next year?
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darcilicious
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Forest Grove, OR | I'm sure seasonal weather plays a part in it as well. |
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drew
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Port Orchard, WA
clubs: | I'm not sure how. |
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darcilicious
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1 edit | Uh, as in they probably can't have active construction going on when the dam is full or close to it. But then, I know next to nothing about construction of dams. Then again, I've observed that not a lot of any kind of construction goes on during the winter due to weather conditions. |
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drew
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Port Orchard, WA
clubs: | I'm taking what you mean to say that 3 to 5 years before construction is started.
Is that not the case? |
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tshirt
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Snohomish, WA
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1 edit | reply to drew
The money wiil be there when they need it, (a lot cheaper then a FEMA response, plus the flood insurance payout (ALL residents within the potential flood zone are now being REQUIRE to get flood insurance.
However this is a really big problem and the solution is huge, expensive, and very time consuming to repair, because it's not the dam that's failing, it's the rock in the hillside the dam attaches to, has voids that are seeping.
They have spent the last year making a temporary grout wall(bore 100's/1000's of holes 500 feet deep a fill them with cement) which is kind of like a shower curtain (keeps in the sprinkles in but can't hold 100' feet deep water)
The 4:1 flooding is a return to what the area was like before the dam as the will not be able to impound and slowly release the normal heay rain and snow melts, some water must be retained for conservation and to provide drinking water to many of the cites south of seattle.
The big danger would be catastorphic failure due to overfilling or an earthquake, which would send an massive uncontrolled Tsunami down thru the (former) flood plain.
This wiil be a big problem for AT LEAST the 5 years + needed to make a permanent repair.
BTW the dam history »www.historylink.org/index.cfm?Di···_id=3549 is a fasinating read and amazing how short a the Farmers (for whom it was orginally concived) had use of the protected area before development took over. virtually every major compny and local gov't around here has major assets and employees at risk. |
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jinjimbob
Troy Mcclure
join:2001-11-13 | reply to darcilicious
They shouldn't allow any new construction in an flood plain, anywhere. |
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cscottm
join:2002-05-09
Kent, WA
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| reply to tshirt
I live in the area & haven't recieved nor seen anything that says that I am required to get flood insurance. Regardless though I will get it just in case.
said by tshirt  :The money wiil be there when they need it, (a lot cheaper then a FEMA response, plus the flood insurance payout (ALL residents within the potential flood zone are now being REQUIRE to get flood insurance. |
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tshirt
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Snohomish, WA
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| reply to darcilicious
I thinnk the county counsel ASKED for a for a mandatory declaration from FEMA, but (if apporved) it goes out according to the flood hazard map/rating (i.e. 10 year zone first, 50 Yr next, 100 yr, etc) given the risk THIS year it should go to everyone, given FEMA red tape, you'll get the notice next year, hopefully not at a new address  .
EVERYONE with ANY risk should buy in. (VERY cheap for a few years (given the risk) fairly expensive over a lifetime (think about moving). |
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tshirt
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Snohomish, WA
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1 edit | reply to darcilicious
The levy wars begin
»www.komonews.com/news/local/64707962.html
One of the factors in the severe 1990's floods in the Snohomish river valley, was the way levy building was handled fo decades... farmers in a given levy/diking district would payto raise their levy a foot or to above the surrounding district, meaning rather than all the areas seeing a little water (manageable amounts) over the levy, in a flood, the lowest levies would have a major over topping, and eventually fail.
after '96 the county stepped in a forced all the districts to work together and raise lower to a surveyed height.
That way everyone sees a little overtopping, but nobody gets a devasting flood.
The area that boeing protects means higher water for all the unprotected around them. |
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tshirt
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Snohomish, WA
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1 edit | reply to darcilicious
The situation maybe be getting better
»www.komonews.com/news/local/69300472.html
I say maybe, because the story is poorly written (doesn't "a 25% chance" sound a lot like "1 in 4 chance" ? and not very much like "1in 25" ?)
Perhaps a follow up will clarify. |
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