HAMILTON, Wash. — Residents in Hamilton are voicing their frustrations about living without mail service for over a year.
"If this was Bellevue or Seattle this would've never happened. It's been going on for 13 months," said customer Deborah Ulrich.
Thirteen months ago, the Skagit River spilled over its banks and flooded the town of Hamilton, damaging the town's post office.
The estimate from the postal service to fix it was $72,000, but the entire building itself is worth far less.
Now, people are forced to make a 26-mile roundtrip journey to Concrete to pick up their mail.
Many in the town are elderly or don't have reliable transportation.
At a café, people gathered to vent their frustrations. They discussed people not getting their medications in the mail and Christmas presents being returned to sender, as was a stack of water bills totaling $3,500.
"People's water bills are getting returned, they're getting charged late fees. People's electric bills are getting returned, they're getting late fees. People are gonna go to collections," said town Councilmember Mike Ulrich.
"To me, I think they feel we're not important enough. We're such a small town it just doesn't matter," adds café owner and Hamilton Mayor Mandy Bates.
A USPS spokesperson told KING 5, "Floodwaters rendered the old post office building uninhabitable and we've been unable to secure alternate quarters in the rural town of Hamilton. At this time, there are still assessments being done at the former post office."
City officials, however, said they have offered to use Hamilton Town Hall as temporary post office, but the postal service hasn't responded.
Many in the tiny town of just 300 are poor and believe that's why their situation remains unresolved.
"We're still people," said Councilman Ulrich. "We're still a community and we deserve to get our mail."
For now, townspeople protest outside the Concrete post office, saying "postal service" is an oxymoron.
"From up in Concrete we hear they're just waiting for the higher ups to give them an answer," said Mayor Bates. "Well, give us an answer. Please."
The USPS spokesperson told KING 5 they are looking for a permanent location for a post office which they hope will happen in the new year.