flooding

In 2023, the state required municipalities in Washington to include climate change plans when thinking about long-term growth and development.“ The…

Rain, flooding, storms – all pretty standard for Western Washington, but sometimes weather patterns spare some areas that have flooded before. That was the case at the beginning of December, when Western Washington got so much rain that it caused flooding from the Stillaguamish River to the town of Rosburg.

After about five years in the works, the Pierce County Council adopted a new Comprehensive Flood Hazard Management Plan that broadens the scope of what kinds of flooding the county will plan for – from coastal to urban flooding. Angela Angove is the floodplain and watershed services manager with Pierce County Planning and Public Works. She said different types of flooding are top of mind for people in the county, recalling the King Tides that caused tidal flooding last December.

In the foothills of Mt. Rainier runs the Carbon, the Puyallup and the White Rivers, meandering through towns and cities, along roadways and near homes, the paint strokes of the natural environment now surrounded by a human-built ecosystem. Once tightly restricted by levees, these rivers are beginning to again flow closer to how they would have, not adhering to the confines and rules of where humans want water to go.

Washington Rep. Steve Tharinger of the 24th district became intimately acquainted with levee setbacks when he discovered the levee protecting his house on the lower Dungeness River was not only not protecting his house, but harming the ecosystem too.“I sold my house and the five acres in a barn we had, so that we'd have more room to move that levee back and give the river more room,” Tharinger said.

Jason Vander Kooy said the potential for flooding weighs on his mind every November. Vander Kooy is a dairy farmer — one of many in northwestern Washington. Two years ago, some farmers there dealt with flooding that killed livestock, damaged fields, and overtopped manure lagoons — meaning the basins that store cow waste filled with water and, like a bathtub too full, spilled over.

Homeowners in Whatcom County have been waiting nearly two years for relief from flooding that devastated communities in northwest Washington and parts of Canada — and now, they have to wait even longer.Federal funding was supposed to come this week for 12 homeowners whose houses were destroyed during the November 2021 flooding. However, it’s been delayed, again.

Crews made progress over the weekend on the Eagle Bluff fire burning in Okanogan County. The fire was 80 percent contained on Monday and crews said there has not been new growth for 48 hours.

Salmon advocates want negotiators to consider salmon and the Columbia River’s ecosystem as a part of an agreement between the U.S. and Canada.

A first-of-its-kind climate resiliency website will help communities understand climate-related risks, the Biden administration said. The new website, launched Thursday, provides real-time information and predictions for local communities that are more vulnerable to disasters, such as wildfires, heat waves and droughts.