Leaky dam causes flood worries in Seattle area

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Under 6 feet of water

In a flood, county officials estimate Kent's downtown could be under 6 feet of water, swamping businesses, city offices and the county's regional justice center, which includes courtrooms, offices and a jail that can house up to 1,384 inmates. Already, the county has relocated its election offices from Renton, just south of Seattle, to ensure it can count votes from November's election in the event of flooding.

"I don't understand why they didn't repair it earlier," said Nathan Sorrell, 30, a truck driver who recently bought flood insurance for his Kent home. "This is people's lives. It's not going to be 'Oh, there's water on my lawn.' We're not going to have water, sewer, power. It's almost like a little Katrina."

Mamie Brouwer, Hanson Dam's program manager, said the problems weren't known until January's high water. She said the corps hopes to have a permanent fix — a concrete wall the length of the abutment and reaching down to bedrock — designed within a year and finished after two years of construction — a project that could cost up to $500 million.

County wants millions for repairs

County Executive Kurt Triplett has asked the County Council to approve $8.4 million to strengthen 40 miles of levees, though he acknowledges there isn't enough time to complete the work before winter. He also wants the cash-strapped county to borrow more than $32 million for such things as protecting a critical sewage treatment plant, building a flood-proof wall around the justice center, relocating offices and, if necessary, evacuating jail inmates.

"It is the right thing to do even it the worst-case scenarios don't happen," he said. "Too much is at stake."

Residents are hoping the floodwaters hold off, but preparing for the worst.

Marie Manson has lived in Auburn since 1923 and remembers flooded roads and her father having to constantly pump water from the house before the dam was built. The 89-year-old has bought flood insurance and moved important documents and valuables to safe spots.

"I'll deal with it when it comes," she said. "I don't know what else to do."

Comment

I saw a program documentary on our crumbling infrastructure last week, and old dams that leak was one of the topics addressed. We have over 1000 dams that are in need of repairs or renovation. As in New Orleans, if it happens upstream from a populated area it could be another Katrina-like catastrophe. We have Lake Okeechobee here in Florida that provides water for the entire state, but that isn't in the best shape either. We had a 3 yr drought, and now we have TOO much rain, it seems. When the rains fell a couple years ago they let a couple feet of water out because they were afraid the Lake couldn't hold it. So, the next year, of course, we had a drought, again, and were wishing we had all that water that had been released. Why don't they just release a foot of water at a time? That way we wouldn't go from feast to famine in the course of a year.