NEAR CARNATION, Wash. – Five years. Four major floods.
For the people who live in the Snoqualmie Valley, it’s getting old really quick.
“Seems like these are getting more frequent and more severe,” says Geary Eppley, who own the Acacia Horse Farm near Carnation. “This is a wakeup call for the valley that something is going on.”
Eppley could only canoe in and out of his home Monday night, and says the current flood is just the latest example of something wrong upriver.
He and his fellow homeowners have created the Snoqualmie Valley Preservation Alliance, and are united in their belief that flood control work above Snoqualmie Falls is largely to blame for the increased flooding. They’ve filed a lawsuit against the Army Corps of Engineers and Puget Sound Energy, aimed at stopping the work.
The Army Corps and PSE have been working to redirect some flows and widen the river. They believe it lowers the flood risk near the City of Snoqualmie.
The lawsuit also calls for a comprehensive review of the impact of the work on the valley.
“It’s not fair to take the problem upstream and send them downstream,” says Eppley.
But PSE says there is no connection between their project and flooding the Snoqualmie Valley. PSE spokesperson Roger Thompson says the suit “misses the point" and the work has a “negligible impact” on the valley. PSE Lawyers also say in court documents that the utility “denies the characterization of the complaint.”
Army Corps spokesperson Patricia Graesser declined comment on the suit Monday night.
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