The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers continues to watch levees around western Washington and has deployed six flood fight teams for river observation and conducting emergency operations as rivers continue to rise across western Washington.
Currently Howard Hanson Dam is retaining water to keep flows at Auburn at or below 9,000 cubic feet per second, the trigger flow rate for a flood warning. Flows are expected to drop below the 9,000 cfs trigger flow at or around 1 p.m. today. The reservoir is still nearly empty and capable of storing the forecast inflow amounts should additional storage be needed to keep downstream flows below flood stage. As coordinated with local officials, the Corps is sending levee walkers out along the Green River levees for a real-time assessment of levee conditions, although no problems are expected at this rate of flow, which is 3,000 cfs below the flood level on the lower Green River.
On the non-leveed middle Green basin, the rural portion of the river upstream from Auburn to Howard Hanson Dam, there is some flooding at this rate of flow. Flooding in the middle Green River basin can occur with lesser amounts of precipitation than what it would take to threaten the lower basin.
The Corps has sent flood teams out to the Olympic Peninsula, and the Chehalis, Nooksack, Skagit, Snohomish and Puyallup River basins. Currently 39 flood fighters are in the field.
Crews are wrapping up White River levee reinforcement north of 16th Street E. in Sumner, Wash. The Corps also assisted Snohomish County with strengthening a levee overnight at Oso on the North Fork of the Stillaguamish River. River spotters are monitoring areas of concern in Pacific to provide real-time river condition observations back to the local and Corps emergency operations center. The Corps has supplied two pumps to the city of Orting at their request and 15,000 sandbags to Snohomish County.
The Corps provides engineering services to respond to national and natural disasters to minimize damages and help in recovery efforts. Public Law 84-99 enables the Corps to assist state and local authorities in flood fight activities and cost share in the repair of flood protection structures.
The National Weather Service issues flood watches and warnings and should be consulted for that information.
For more information about the corps, and up-to-date river forecasts, go to www.nws.usace.army.mil and click on Rivers and Reservoirs or call the information line at 1- 866-596-2635.
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