Flooded in 2006, frustrated residents again mopping up

Flood-ravaged residents had a reprieve from rain Wednesday, giving them time to dig through soggy debris -- and vent. City, county and emergency workers responded to calls for everything from wastewater overflows to lost pets.

But, even as floodwaters receded, frustrations rose.

Eyeing her submerged backyard Wednesday, Barb Oliver was grateful Seattle Public Utilities reached her Madison Valley home in time Monday to pump water away from her house. But the six-hour wait for help left her increasingly anxious as she recalled the December 2006 flood in which she lost most of her belongings -- and was nearly electrocuted.

"We were lucky this time, but there was 3 feet of standing water moving within 10 feet of the house," Oliver said. "Whenever it rains, we're nervous -- and with good reason."

For the second time in slightly less than a year, Seattleites swabbed out flooded basements in the wake of torrential rains on Monday.

"Storms are a natural fact of life," said Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels. "What we are seeing now aren't the wonderful Northwest drizzles we have enjoyed for many years."

Now that the storm is over, Nickels added, the "blame game is starting."

Meanwhile, the solution to better handling the "100-year storms" that seem to be hitting annually is going to require sacrifice from us all, officials say.

As they did last December, city officials called Monday's storm a record-breaking event of historic consequence. Again this time, officials said the Seattle's drainage system was never intended to handle such intense volumes of water.

But don't look to the city for an easy fix based on expanding capacity, officials said. The city is not going to spend "billions and billions of dollars" to construct a larger system, Nickels said.

"I just don't think you can build your way out of it," added Chuck Clarke, director of Seattle Public Utilities. "But what you can start doing is you can figure out how to not let water get into the system."

An incremental "adaptive" strategy would improve how the city handles such events -- which some predict will happen more often in coming years thanks to global warming.

"To redesign and redo the whole system is an impossible task both logistically and financially," said City Councilman Richard Conlin, who chairs the utilities committee.

Instead, the city should invest in targeted upgrades, such as plans in the works to try to add runoff storage facilities in the Madison Valley, officials said. Such improvements can help hot-spot neighborhoods and mitigate any bottlenecks in drainage.

Beyond that, the city should reduce pressure on the pipe systems by adding surface features, perhaps including natural drainage ponds, increased use of permeable versus impermeable surfaces, and swales, which are swaths of water-absorbent land, officials said. "You start looking at ways of getting the water into the soil, where it was intended to be," Clarke said. Also, some cities "store" water during exceptional storms at the edges of slightly sloped roadways -- thanks to relatively wide roads and tall curbs, he said.

Residents must also pitch in, Clarke said. Seattleites need to help monitor and clear the city's 88,000 storm drains to stave off future floods, said Clarke, whose agency recently began an "Adopt-a-Drain" initiative.

Property owners can also help with "green" building strategies, such as vegetated roofs, mulched lawns, non-concrete driveways, rainwater cisterns and homeowner-built mini-detention ponds, said Bob Spencer, watershed stewardship coordinator for Seattle Public Utilities. "It's as easy as installing gravel and paver blocks that let the rain through, or asking yourself, 'Do I really need a solid concrete patio?' " Spencer said.

City crews have stepped up their maintenance efforts -- adding workers and putting in overtime early this year to inspect and clear the system, Clarke said. Still, even if city workers and residents had cleared all Seattle drains in the morning hours before Monday's storm, that would not have prevented all clogs, he said. Some blockages develop during the storm, because rainfall itself pushes debris downstream.

Clogged drains contributed to flooding last year during a Dec. 14 storm that drowned a Madison Valley woman after a torrent of water ripped through the foundation of her home and poured into her basement. Madison Valley has long been plagued with drainage problems.

After that storm, residents and businesses filed 399 claims for damages with the city -- 79 of those claims from Madison Valley. So far, the city has agreed to pay out $3.3 million for 187 claims, most of it to 74 Madison Valley claimants. Forty-one claims are pending, and the city has rejected 171 claims.

Additionally, Seattle has made $1.8 million in partial payments to 50 Madison Valley residents whose claims are still open.

Like Oliver, Ken Ackerlund is among the Madison Valley residents still waiting for his claim to be processed. Ackerlund had minor flooding this week. Last year, he and his brother lost just about everything when water and sewage flooded their newly renovated basement, library and recording studio.

"My biggest frustration is the city's inability to realize the magnitude of the problem," Ackerlund said, referring to the city's risk-management office, which handles claims. "It's like this callous, bureaucratic disregard for our well-being. They don't get what this has done to us mentally and emotionally."

Last year, the system was overwhelmed within less than an hour by intense rains, Clarke said. The volume was so intense that water in some areas simply bypassed drains and poured though neighborhoods, he said.

By contrast, Monday's storm broke records in terms of the volume of water over a 24-hour period. Rain was heaviest in the North End and in West Seattle, parts of which saw more than 5 inches over the peak 24-hour period -- more than ever in the utility's records. The rest of the city saw the second-heaviest rainfall in its history, Clarke said.

"Over time, we just kept putting more and more water into the system, and all of (a) sudden it just doesn't have any capacity left in it," he said.

Residents in north Sand Point blamed the city for not adequately cleaning a clogged-up culvert, which filled with fallen branches, logs and other debris to cause a dam that backed up water into yards and homes. But Andy Ryan, spokesman for Seattle Public Utilities, said the city had no record of calls about a plugged-up culvert before the storm.

Flooding in Meadowbrook was not caused by failure of the detention pond there, but by high volumes of water that "blew open" a concrete block over a sediment trap, allowing highly diluted wastewater to spill onto Meadowbrook Park, officials said.

Some of the water did go into Lake Washington, said Logan Harris, spokesman for the King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks. It's being tested by the county.

The park was reopened Wednesday, but signs are posted warning people -- should they want to -- not to swim.