Like much of the Puget Sound region, Edmonds was awash in water Monday due to heavy rainfall.
Hit especially hard were areas near the Edmonds waterfront, including Dayton Street. The Washington State Ferries announced that due to flooding at the Edmonds terminal, off-loading ferry traffic was required to exit up Hwy 104, with no turns onto Sunset or Railroad Ave.
Edmonds Public Works noted via Twitter that substantial rainfall had the city’s storm systems at or above capacity, and that crews were working hard to clear drains.
Self-fill sand-bagging stations are set up at Edmonds Public Works, 7110 – 210th St. S.W., with bags and sand provided, public works said.
Following the heavy rainfall, the city saw its first snowfall of the year, although it wasn’t supposed to stick around for long.
Did all of that extensive construction work down there this pat year accomplish anything?
I don’t believe that project is completed yet.
That could be, but they haven’t been working there for several weeks as the construction at the corner of Dayton and Railroad looks wrapped up.
I believe it is the pump station that isn’t completed yet? But perhaps someone from public works will weigh in on that?
For those driving on to the ferry in Edmonds, some warning lights or signs would have been helpful – to avoid ploughing in to pretty deep water! Where were the traffic signs/ police/ barricades??
Well later on it turned into snow for us here in Edmonds near 5 corners, and we had a lot of fun while it lasted.
I encourage everyone to look at the NOAA sea level rise map. It’s actually a very good predictor for flood risk, and gives you a detailed view of what areas will flood. Look up
“Sea level rise map” on google to find it.
A good portion of Edmonds near the marina and marsh will be under water in probably about 30-40 years (new senior center, all the apartments down there, etc) but most of downtown will not be.
Appears we will soon be needing bigger and better pumps. Sort of like New Orleans perhaps.
I don’t know that it would be worth spending that much money on a pump system. Best to cut losses and rebuild is most likely. Certainly if it comes to a 3-4 foot rise, than downtown Tacoma and the Port of Seattle will be in much worse shape and will likely take the majority of State funding to remediate. Nationally, huge parts of the Gulf Coast and coastal cities in Florida will be under water with many tens of trillions of losses in property and destroyed homes. It is unlikely that the situation in Edmonds would be able to secure enough money in that situation to save Harbor Square, the marina, and Brackets landing compared to the much larger losses elsewhere.
The largest potential problem for us is actually the old Point Well oil terminal near Woodway. At 3-4 feet of Sea level rise, most of the area including nearly all storage tanks would be completely underwater. It is also the site of the potential massive new development from BSRE with what looks to be planned for around 20 fifteen story mid rise mixed use buildings, and an equal number of small structures. A development of likely at least a billion dollars.
The large problem for us is that if there is no attempt to clean up the likely hazardous material site at Point Wells, which would require at least tens of millions of dollars to do, flooding in that area would lead to major water contamination in the waters near Edmonds. Which might kill massive numbers of fish and prevent fishing in our area for a significant amount of time. If the development goes through however, we could have the most major housing development in our region in decades be completely flooded very soon after it is built.
If a good part of the marsh will be underwater in 30 years anyway, does it make any sense to spend many millions of $$$$ to restore it?
The Edmonds Dog Park (pictured) has always flooded because of it’s location and heavy use of dog park users. The Board of OLAE wants to thank P&R Manager Rich Lindsay (in his 49th year of serving this City) and while we continue to add gravel every year for the puddles – nature happens. Happy Holidays!
Perrinville got hit hard.
Every bit of land we cover with building and concrete prevents the water from pursuing its natural course. Result: instant gain for the few, long term pain for the many. I’m surprised the flooding was actually minimal for now. The more we build the more complicated our infrastructure has to become to protect us from the harm we have caused ourselves.
So many times a house with a small footprint is taken down a three or more houses are built shoulder to shoulder. The water that required no management now is contributed to flooding after a heavy rain or snow. But greed wins every time.
My thoughts exactly! Lots should be required to keep a certain amount of square footage natural for drainage. The city needs a strict code to preserve and replant our evergreen tree systems to absorb water. We could require new homes to have permeable driveways and sidewalks, and gradually work to replace hard surfaces in the city with permeable systems. I heard there is a site with satellite footage that shows the loss of tree cover in different areas of the world over time. We have lost a significant number of trees in Edmonds in the 15 years I have lived here, a relatively short time. I hear tree cutters almost every weekend in my neighborhood now. The trees were one major reason I chose to live here instead of other urban neighborhoods. A pump system is a very temporary bandaid. We need forward looking environmental management in the city. What happens on top of the hills will flood down into the bowl.
When we built our home over 20 years ago we were required to plant natives (800 in all which included native trees, shrubs and ground covers). We also had to install a pipe to catch the runoff from the house. During and after rainfall there are no puddles. We have a natural stream at the south edge of our property. I am not sure what the requirements are for houses with no streams, but requiring natives certainly does help mitigate the problem of runoff.