western washington flooding

[nannah]

I live in western washington and have since early 70's. In the late 70's I worked in real estate development and land use planning; i served on the planning commission for the community in which i lived. At that time there were concerns about development along the I-5 corridor in Lewis County due to the increased flooding caused by creating impervious surface (non-permeable surface ie. roofs, roads, parking lots,) in an area that relies on natural drainage to handle rainfall and slow run off into the river. Needless to say, the clamor from outraged landowners claiming their right to develop and profit on their real estate purchase joined with the banks eager to loan money, developers hot to do their community building, businesses wanting to expand with the magic words of bringing "economic development" won over common sense and paying attention to the mundane realities of hydrology, geology, and basic land use concepts.

Now, we have wailing and hand wringing about the losses. It isn't that I am insensitive to people's suffering and the loss of livestock and pets, especially the losses of farmers whose farms were devastated by the increased flooding.

Why is this relevant???? Because on a global scale we are in possession of scientific findings that suggest the need to make changes in how we live and use our resources. And again common sense and scientific information is being drowned out by paid nay saying shills, representatives of the magical thinking trades; representatives of industries who continue to bank on things staying the same; and people who don't like disrupting their comfortable lives.

[ORDagnabbit]

1. right on!!

[kickysnana]

2. Map for reference (I have family in WA so I was curious)

http://www.co.lewis.wa.us/PublicWorks/maps/LewisCountyLocation.html

[Matariki]

6. To put this in perspective - about 20 miles of I-5 are closed from flooding

and will be closed for a while. This is the main western highway running from Canada, though Seattle and Portland, down to California.

http://www.thenewstribune.com/292/story/222188.html

[cliss]

3. Hi Nannah. You are so right.

You have an insight into the problem. I agree.

we're in Portland, and we've been looking at the photos in the Oregonian at the mess. In Chehalis, Highway 5 is currently blocked. That's unusual and it's causing a lot of problems.

As far as the "outraged landowners" and "the banks eager to loan money", "developers hot to do their community building" and "businesses wanting to expand", they are ALL about to see what's coming in the Mortgage Meltdown.

[sam sarrha]

4. WA is very sensitive to run off. packed rock hard glacial moraine, just a few new houses/driveways

can flood out a farmer or home just down the road a bit. gOD forbid a strip mall, the topsoil is easily washed off the hard ground up in the pennensula... the valleys adjacent to ridges and hills are worse

in washington the highways and roads are considered major "Tributaries" of down hill rivers and streams

in june of 1992 it rained 22 inches in Olympia

[nannah]

5. consider that the run off issues and flooding of I-5 was present in the 70''s

We seem to have difficulty dealing with information that relates to a future farther out than a few months or a year. This may be a teachable moment for global warming science.

[countryjake]

7. The wailing down there is drowned out by the sighs of relief up here...

Skagit County, wrapped around "the Magic Skagit" river, is facing the reality of years of development and its "reclaiming" of miles of natural flood plain, swamps, and what originally was nothing but soggy tidal marshes, so the word "luck" is overheard in every conversation up here, this week. We suffered the flooding of low-lying areas, level 2 "normal" washing out of communities who "live with it", considered standard fare now during most winters, but on this past Sunday, "sheer fright" would have been the overall description of most with any vested interest in this area.

Those "economic development" cheerleaders you've mentioned have their blocs working overtime up here too, defying scientific warnings of the tragedy that will occur in our valley with the swoosh of one Pineapple Express bearing our county's number. We have the raised-bed, hardened site for the controversial Wal-Mart Supercenter, sitting within feet of one our most crucial dikes of the county, just waiting for the objectors to tire of their protests, so construction can begin again and move forward.

Funny thing tho, just as you've said the problems and "common sense" solutions were obvious years ago in Lewis County, our planners have been "aware" since at least the Depression Era, but choose to out-talk and flat-out ignore warnings and advice from wise old-timers, environmentalists, and the increasingly loud voice of our river.

Here's one view of where our county sits, in relation to "disaster" awareness, from earlier this year:

Awash In Trouble
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/pacificnw02182007/2003572246_pacificpflood18.html