SUMAS, Wash. — A year after historic flooding in Whatcom County, dozens of people whose homes sustained severe damage are still displaced. Many are unlikely to move back in before 2023.
A cold November wind blows through the walls of the home belonging to Cristian and Emily Colacillo, which is still without windows. The couple's house has been torn down to the studs. Holes and cracks pock the splintered floorboards.
The home had 3 feet of water inside when last year's historic floods hit, and very little has changed.
"I assumed we'd be home by now, that we'd be back to normal and not be literally in the exact same spot as before," said Emily Colacillo. "A year later, I'm no closer to coming home than I was the day I left. That's frustrating and difficult."
Back-to-back floods ravaged the northern Whatcom County towns of Sumas, Nooksack and Everson in November 2021, damaging 2,000 properties, causing $200 million in losses and killing one man.
The Colacillos have now been out of their house longer than they were in it. The couple and their two daughters had lived there just eight months when the floods hit.
Twelve months later they're still living in an apartment, paying rent as well as the mortgage for a house that needs to be torn down. The family was ready for a rebuild but between the original quote and today, the price jumped about $150,000.
That's due to supply chain shortages, rising labor costs, and unforeseen expenses.
It's money the family simply doesn't have.
"Some paychecks we make it with $100, $200 left in the account until the next check hits," said Emily Colacillo. "Sometimes we're at the food bank, sometimes we're asking for help with diapers. Sometimes we're putting it on a credit card. It just depends on the week."
There are still at least 50 families who haven't been able to get back into their homes.
Some of them are still being identified, and aid workers say it will likely be well into next year before they're able to return
"There are a lot of hoops to jump through, a lot of paperwork, a lot of processes," said Audrey Alf, an individual assistance coordinator with Whatcom County Emergency Management. "Then you have a large number of people all fighting for the same resources at the same time so it gets overwhelming."
Alf says insurance snafus and bureaucratic red tape are slowing the process.
"A lot of the money that's being allocated is restricted for certain uses," Alf explained. "I have a client who had everything lined up to raise her house and she had to cancel at the last minute because her insurance didn't want repair money to go for mitigation, which is what a lift would be. Now she has to go another winter living in an unsafe house until she can try again in the spring."
Alf started working for the county on a temporary basis in March.
Her job was supposed to end in December, but it has now been extended until June 2023.
"There is no way we're going to be done with this in December," Alf said. "I have clients where it will probably be a couple of years before they're wrapped up."
As Emily Colacillo and her family head into year two without their home, friends have organized an online fundraiser to help them rebuild.
She wonders how it all went so wrong.
"We have insurance," she said. "We did all the things we should do, and here we are."