SUMAS, Wash. — Caleb Lyle is still fighting the floods of 2021, trying to rebuild a Sumas house for his mom.
"It's a pain," he says. "It's just time-consuming and it does get expensive if you can't do it yourself."
Two storm seasons ago the Nooksack River jumped its banks and inundated the border towns of Sumas and Everson -- damaging 2,000 properties and forcing more than 500 people from their homes.
Flooding has been an issue along the Nooksack for decades.
"Our flood engineers see this as the most complicated flood scenario in the state," says Tom Buroker, regional director for the state Department of Ecology. "Not only do you have a river that occasionally wants to jump its banks and flood into a different watershed, but into a different country with different rules and different laws around flooding."
When the Nooksack floods it often flows into Canada.
The 2021 floods caused a billion dollars in damages there.
Now, Washington state, Canada locals, cities, counties, and tribes have agreed to work together and share their collective expertise to address the problem.
"We can't just be dealing with this on one side. We have to be working together," says Carrie Sessions, senior policy advisor to Gov. Jay Inslee.
In the 1990s, a cross-border task force was created to find solutions after a similar flood, but no actions were taken.
Nothing in this agreement is legally binding and it expires in two years.
There is also no timeline for results, nor a mention of funding obligations. State officials, however, believe solutions will come.
"We're in it for the long haul," says Buroker, "but we know people want short-term solutions, too."
Among the solutions now in place are better river gauges and a 72-hour warning system.
With flood season fast approaching, Caleb Lyle hopes it doesn't come to that.
"From what I hear they have good flood warnings, so we get the expensive stuff out and I'll do this all over again," he says.