The Snoqualmie Valley Preservation Alliance (SVPA) said this week's floods will be "devastating" to nearby farms.
"Catastrophic floods, arriving earlier in the season, close local roads and destroy any crops remaining in the fields," the SVPA said in a statement.
The Snoqualmie River crested at 58 feet Tuesday evening. Flowing at a rate of 41,000 cubic feet per second, the Snoqualmie River caused major flooding from the town of Snoqualmie downstream through Fall City. The city of Snoqualmie got twice as much water as officials were expecting.
October is prime harvest season in King County's farm community. Snoqualmie Valley farms are in the middle of their peak pumpkin patch season, according to the alliance. At least one pumpkin patch at First Light Farm south of Carnation appeared to be completely submerged Tuesday afternoon.
“We’re used to it flooding but we’re also used to it flooding in November or December, not October,” said Snohomish farmer Bob Ricci, of Bob’s Corn and Pumpkin Farm.
A 16-acre portion of Ricci’s farm was partially underwater on Tuesday. Unlike commercial farmers, Ricci is in the business of agritourism. His concern isn’t about the product as much as the guests. Families that come by the thousands to pick their own pumpkins.
This week’s rain temporarily submerged a parking lot at the farm and turned much of the land to mud.
“It was the worse that I’ve ever seen here, especially,” mom Tanya Whitney said Thursday as she picked pumpkins with her family. “We always come to this pumpkin patch every year.”
But things are starting to turn around just in time for the last week in October. Thursday the rain held off, and families armed with camera showed up as predicted.
“We just want folks to be able to come out bring their family and enjoy their time on the farm and make some new memories,” Ricci said.
Other farms, including Goose and Gander Farm and Local Roots Farm, reported flooding Thursday evening, according to data managed by Snoqualmie Valley Preservation Alliance.
The weekend before Halloween is the Black Friday for pumpkins, the SVPA said.
