MOUNT VERNON, Wash. — The Army Corps of Engineers is repairing a half-mile series of levees along the Skagit River, which have been in a state of disrepair for years.
"It's a powder keg ready to go off," Dike District Commissioner Jason Vander Kooy said of one levy that was built in 1910.
The project is fortifying the area where the Olympic pipeline crosses beneath the river supplying 5 million gallons of fuel to Seattle and Portland every day.
The system protects $3.6 billion in homes, farms, businesses and infrastructure in the Skagit Valley, not to mention all the lives.
"There's 5,000 to 6,000 people that live on the other side of this dike. That wears on you, knowing that you are responsible for keeping them dry during a flood event," said Vander Kooy.
The project is scheduled to be completed by the end of August. Once it's done engineers said the levee will provide a "50-year level of protection" or just a "2% chance of flooding annually."
The levees were seriously damaged during back-to-back flood seasons in 2020 and 2021. Damages topped $15 million in 2021 alone, with more rain falling in four days than usually falls for the entire month of November.
"We had a series of atmospheric rivers that caused the water level in this area to come up to near record or record levels," said Krystle Walker of the Army Corps of Engineers.
Over the years, continued high water has sucked boulders to the bottom of the river leaving the banks exposed to erosion. The river is slowly trying to eat its way toward town.
"Once that water gets to the sand there's no stopping it," he said. "Nature never forgets. Nature has a memory."
Vandor Kooy said one levee failed decades ago. The last major work done on the levee was more than 70 years ago.
With the rainy season looming on the horizon, the work is coming just in time.
"We're all very happy to have the Skagit River levees repaired this year," said Project Manager Janet Curran. "This is a big, powerful river."