SEATTLE — The City of Seattle is expecting its third king tide of the season on Monday.
This comes as the South Park neighborhood in Seattle is still recovering from the last king tide at the end of December, which caused flooding for dozens of homes and businesses in the area.
The city is making long-term plans to prevent flooding in the area in the future but is making temporary changes ahead of Monday’s king tide. The city has put more than 90,000 sandbags along the Duwamish river, along roadways, and outside buildings.
This comes as around a dozen people have still not been able to go back to their homes and businesses are still addressing damage from December’s king tide.
“It was up the warehouse, was probably close to two feet of water,” said Allyn Long, the owner of Alaska Logistics in South Park. “Things were floating around. We really weren't ready for it."
It has been three weeks since Long’s warehouse which he rents for his shipping business was flooded following the historically high King Tide.
“I don't know what we're going to do with it,” Long said of the damage in the warehouse. “I don't even know, we're letting it dry out, running fans and some heat in there to let things dry out.”
Long had electrical equipment, machinery, and files in his office area damaged. He said he hopes the city takes action to protect the area, especially since some of their improvements have been delayed.
“They were supposed to have this big pump for the stormwater that was supposed to be running last summer, and it's not running,” said Long.
While some business owners want the city’s help, others like Chris Stapleton, who owns Gypsum to Gypsum in South Park, said the city’s response is causing more problems for their business in the industrial area than the flooding itself. He has had to start switching some of his shipping deliveries to nighttime hours to avoid the traffic now in South Park caused by the flood response.
“I’ve asked the city to please keep trucks and stuff off to one side of the street so my trucks can come in and out, please get a flagger here or something like that,” said Stapleton.
The General Manager of Seattle Public Utilities, Andrew Lee, said they plan to work with people who live and work in the area further as they find more permanent solutions.
“That includes new storm drain pipes, a new stormwater pump station, as well as projects on the wastewater or the sewer side to prevent against sewer backups,” said Lee.
He said they have invested $100 million in those plans and some of those initiatives will be completed by this summer. They are also looking at potentially creating permanent barriers along the river, elevating roadways, and possible property acquisition along the river in the future.
“We’re going to be working, you know, on our properties, but also with the other property owners and potentially out in the right of way to look at any and all improvements that are available,” said Lee.
He said their first goal is to help people restore their properties that were damaged in December.
Lee said the city was preparing for more flooding in the future in this area due to its location on the river and rising sea levels but did not think that would happen for another twenty to thirty years. After December’s flooding event, he said they are now working on projects in South Park with more urgency.
The king tide on Monday is not expected to be as high or severe as what the area saw in December, although tidal overflow and some flooding are still possible.