The Kent City Council on Tuesday gave Mayor Suzette Cooke the power to declare a preemptive emergency, in case of flooding this winter along the Green River. The resolution enables Cooke to respond with quick decision-making, to prevent flooding or to react to flood damage in the Green River Valley.
The Council also passed an ordinance allowing property owners to install temporary sandbags or other flood-protection structures without a city permit, as long as the items are removed by July 1, 2010.
“This is because of the diminished flood-storage capacity at the Howard Hanson Dam and the likelihood of flooding increased,” City Attorney Tom Brubaker told the Council Tuesday before the vote on both measures. “It is not a certainty the valley will flood, but it could with a combination of factors, such as a heavy rainfall and the failure of the levees.”
The resolution gives Mayor Suzette Cooke the power to sign contracts with companies to help provide flood protection or repair damage from flooding without having to go through the normal procedures for bids that can take a lot of time.
“This gives the mayor the power to act quickly in the event of an emergency,” Brubaker said.
Elected officials from King County and the cities of Auburn, Tukwila and Renton have passed similar emergency resolutions.
The problems with water storage behind the dam started when a 10-foot-wide depression formed on the embankment next to the dam after heavy rain in early January. The dam is about 20 miles east of Kent.
Flooding from the Green River could strike the cities of Kent, Auburn, Renton and Tukwila this winter because the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will not be able to store as much water as normal behind the facility due to the damaged abutment. The federal government built the rock-and earth-fill dam in 1961 for flood control in the Green River Valley.
The permit waiver for temporary flood-protection structures gives property owners the ability to put up structures within 10 feet of their property.
“They will be able to protect their property and not have to obtain a permit,” Brubaker said.
Brubaker said items must be removed by July 1, 2010 unless residents seek a permit.
City officials want to make sure sandbags or other structures are removed by next July because the devices change the flow of water and take away flood-storage areas. The sandbags also eventually deteriorate and the sand could clog the storm-water system.
“There is motivation to place sandbags, but the motivation to remove them is not as strong,” Brubaker said.
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