SEATTLE — Though it’s been days since the initial flooding on South Kenyon Street, this is the first time Dan Wooden is seeing the damage done to his basement blocks from the Duwamish River.
“I don’t even know where to start,” said Wooden. He was working in Spokane during the flooding. Now, back at home, “Right now, I’m pretty upset.”
Wooden said this is the fourth time in three years he and his girlfriend have experienced flooding.
“I tried to keep everything off the ground and for what. They just spent two years tearing up the roads out here trying to make things better and I haven’t seen things get better at all,” said Wooden.
Their family is one of the almost 30 impacted by last Tuesday’s King tide. Recovery for the community is the main priority.
“It could take months, but we’ll see it through,” said Keri Burchard-Juarez who is the Deputy Director for Seattle Public Utilities.
Burchard-Juarez said 28 families have been impacted by the floodwater and eleven families are in hotels, their homes currently uninhabitable.
“It’ll be funded at least until January 11 but those families won’t be left high and dry. The city is looking at other longer-term options to hopefully keep them in the community,” said Burchard-Juarez.
Bags of trash line the street. Appliances, furniture, and carpet saturated by floodwater is unsalvageable.
“We’re really just trying to understand the scope of the damage,” said Burchard-Juarez.
Now preparing for another King tide predicted for late January. "We’re working very closely with the national weather service so we understand whether the river might overtop again at that point so we can prepare for that,” said Burchard-Juarez.
“When it does come in here, it comes in fast,” said Wooden about the flooding. He along with others impacted are still trying to cope with this latest King tide. “Maybe it’s time to get everything out of this basement and wait for it to hit again. I don’t know. That’s all I can say.”
Seattle Public Utilities told KING 5 they have been working with the Army Corps of Engineers on plans to prevent flooding in this area. They knew the river would top over, but predicted it would happen in twenty years, not now.