Emergency management commission meets

The memories of severe saltwater flooding that deluged La Conner in December remain firmly etched in the minds of residents and business owners here, perhaps no more so than former council member and planning commissioner Bill Stokes.

But Stokes, unanimously chosen to chair the Town’s new six-member emergency management commission at its first meeting April 19, is focused more on the future than the past.

“We’ll talk about everything that can cause an emergency,” Stokes said. “That includes fires, tsunamis and earthquakes.

“Our current goal,” he added, “is flood control. We have low spots here.” His Caledonia Street home was flooded for 12 hours Dec. 27 when the Swinomish Channel swept over its bank.

“Flooding is our most pressing issue,” confirmed Town Administrator Scott Thomas, “but not our only pressing issue.”

The 90-minute meeting at Maple Hall was a robust wide-ranging discussion of short-term and long-range flood management strategies and touched upon local earthquake and tsunami preparedness drills Fire District 13 will have in October.

“We’re overdue for a significant earthquake,” Thomas cautioned. “It’s the type of thing we need to be prepared for.”

Still, it was the grim prospect of flooding –from the channel or the Skagit River – that captured the most attention. The holiday season flood caused nearly $2 million in damages within town but did not qualify for Federal Emergency Management Agency relief funds.

“The Town did everything it could to get FEMA to do something, but it wasn’t a big enough event for them to get involved,” Stokes said.

Public Works Director Brian Lease noted that consulting engineers are surveying elevations, a process he said is about 60% complete. That data will help officials develop a game plan to combat anticipated flooding.

Town Assistant Planner Ajah Eills shared local and regional flood and sea level rise forecasts gleaned from National Aeronautics and Space Administration and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration statistics that indicate future vulnerability should appropriate measures not be taken.

“It will put a massive strain on our infrastructure,” predicted Eills, agreeing that long-term remedies would require heavy investment.

Stokes said short-term solutions ahead of next October’s start of king tide season remain doable.

“We need to prepare for and think of long-term solutions,” he said, “but it will cost a lot of money. We need to do things right now that we can afford to do.”

The Dec. 27 flood was the result of a perfect storm of unfortunate conditions – a king tide, abnormally low barometric pressure, melt-off from winter snow and ice and steady rainfall – converging.

“We prepare for tidal floods every year,” Lease said. “Floods have occurred here before that people don’t know about because we handled it.

“What we have to do,” he stressed, “is look at the bigger picture. We focus on tidal flooding, but also have to look at the Skagit River.”

Eills said the effects of climate change are part of that bigger picture.

“Flooding is impacted by sea level rise, which in turn is impacted by climate change,” she said.

“It’s definitely a combo plate, for sure,” sighed Mayor Ramon Hayes, announcing that Councilmembers Rick Dole and Ivan Carlson will serve as liaisons.

Hayes said the next step for the commission, which will meet on second and fourth Tuesdays at 4:30 p.m. – prior to Town Council meetings – will be to receive recommendations for shoreline flooding solutions from Lease and public works staff based on the elevations survey.

In announcing that the Upper Skagit Indian Tribe has offered the Town services of its grant writers to seek state and federal funds for major capital projects Hayes said, “We have $160,000-$170,000 set aside for flood management, but when it comes to long-term solutions that’s a drop in the bucket.”

If only that metaphor was truly the case – that a mere drop of water rather than serious flooding is what the Town must brace for going forward.