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Past experience boosts success of flood response

Lessons learned in December 2007 disaster help agencies handle 2009

By Christian Hill | The Olympian • Published January 19, 2009

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ROCHESTER – Lessons learned from the December 2007 flooding in Thurston and Lewis counties proved valuable as rivers spilled out of their banks again this month, residents and officials say.

Officials say there was better coordination among federal, state and local agencies during the response, and organizations were better versed in where they could assist in the recovery and where they couldn't. They said residents heeded the warnings and prepared to minimize property damage and evacuate early so they didn't have to be rescued.

"The closer these incidents are, the more effective and efficient you should be in handling them," Lewis County Sheriff Steve Mansfield said. "If you don't learn from the past, you don't need to be leading in the future."

Damages

Kathy Estes, the county's emergency manager, said building inspectors have estimated the damage to homes at $3 million. Damage was concentrated in and around Bucoda and Rochester and along the Deschutes River outside of Yelm, she said. Estes estimated the damage to public facilities and roads around Thurston County and the overtime cost for city and county officials to respond to the flooding at $2.5 million.

To be sure, the recent flooding was different in terms of urgency and scale from the event 13 months ago. In December 2007, the record flooding of the Chehalis River surged into homes and farms in the cities of Centralia and Chehalis and the rural communities to the west with little warning. This time, the floodwaters rose more slowly. The Chehalis River crested 2 feet below its record stage, but the flooding was more widespread as the Deschutes and Skookumchuck rivers spilled out of their banks.

In 2007, Mansfield said it was difficult to communicate the severity of the incident, and helicopters needed for recovery missions were regularly being diverted to other tasks initially. This time, a liaison for the state Emergency Management Division was at the county's emergency operations center at all times so "when we needed something, they were there to get it," he said.