Nooksack, Skagit, Elwha rivers record floods forecast (Mount Vernon, Anacortes: co-op, buying a house)

[rkcarguy]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

Thank you. The bolded explains a lot. Sounds horrific.

It was. I've been out to the go kart track in Sumas that flooded. In the video I posted at the 5:00 mark, the tractor is driving past the track. That's the top of a 6' tall fence sticking out of the water.
One of my coworkers lives out there, their family was spared because they have a 2nd level apartment and they got their vehicles to high ground before the flooding.

[freepelican]

Originally Posted by rkcarguy

Here's a video of rescue via a large tractor in Sumas. Unbelievable amount of flood waters!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQ7MUHw8C48

Poor Sumas, this video really brings home how bad it was. Does anyone have video of Skagit, particularly around Mount Vernon and vacinity?

[mayfair]

Originally Posted by freepelican

Poor Sumas, this video really brings home how bad it was. Does anyone have video of Skagit, particularly around Mount Vernon and vacinity?

If you check Skagit Breaking there were lots of videos/photos during the flood and they may still be up. Downtown Mt. Vernon was fine thanks to the flood wall. Outlying areas flooded, roads underwater and closed, livestock had to be rescued. Edgewater Park in Mt. Vernon was under water. So was the river walk- briefly called the river swim.

[freepelican]

Originally Posted by mayfair

If you check Skagit Breaking there were lots of videos/photos during the flood and they may still be up. Downtown Mt. Vernon was fine thanks to the flood wall. Outlying areas flooded, roads underwater and closed, livestock had to be rescued. Edgewater Park in Mt. Vernon was under water. So was the river walk- briefly called the river swim.

Thanks for the info. I'm glad it wasn't terrible at least but I'm wondering how much worse it may get in the future.

[mayfair]

The flood wall is going up again for predicted flooding:
https://komonews.com/news/local/moun...-weekend-storm

[rkcarguy]

Over the weekend, the Nooksack River flooded, overcame it's damaged levy, and flooded through Everson and into Sumas AGAIN (11/28). Thankfully it was only knee deep instead of 5'+, but the area certainly didn't need to be flooded again.
I was in Everson at a relatives, and we went to the grocery store to stock up Sunday afternoon. When we went to go back, Main St. was flooding and the police closed it right in front of us. We went north and were able to cross eastward on another county road, just barely as the water was going over the road and rising as we went through. By the time we reached the end of it, the county was there setting up road closed signs.....and that was the last way in/out. I ended up spending the night, and thankfully the flooding receded enough that Main St. opened this morning and I was able to get to work today.

Between the 2020 Super Bowl Flood and now, we have experienced two 100 year floods and one 500 year flood. I think we have a difficult time ahead, from the chance of yet more flooding, the increases of flood insurance rates and flood zones, to possibly the outright of mandated removal/relocation of homes in areas of repeated flooding (or they go up on piles).

[freepelican]

Originally Posted by mayfair

The flood wall is going up again for predicted flooding:
https://komonews.com/news/local/moun...-weekend-storm

Does anyone have an accurate map of the flood zones in Skagit County? I am considering the area for buying a house but now I'm quite concerned about the flooding.

[Diana Holbrook]

Check out fema maps online, pelican. Flood risk could easily be assessed for any property you consider. This is river valley flooding, and not hard to predict.

[rkcarguy]

FEMA has maps that show flood zones. Keep in mind they are subject to change, and likely will after there has been time to survey and review all the recent flood damage. For instance, in some areas homes flooded that weren't supposed to be in a flood area and didn't require flood insurance, others that were in the 100 year flood plain didn't flood at all.
Since Feb 2020, Whatcom County has had TWO "100 year" floods and one "500 year flood", so really all bets are off as to the future of the frequency of the floods and how FEMA is going to define flood areas in the near future.
Lots of people have had enough and are going to be selling and moving on this spring after some "time to forget" all the flooding passes.

[freepelican]

Originally Posted by Diana Holbrook

Check out fema maps online, pelican. Flood risk could easily be assessed for any property you consider. This is river valley flooding, and not hard to predict.

Thank you I will.