During December’s historic flood event, 88 King County Flood Patrol staff members covered 1,902 miles and worked a combined 952 hours. “This work is physically demanding and often unseen, but it is a critical element of protection,” said a Dec. 31 King County press release.
Flood Patrol is a service of the King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks (DNRP), specifically the Water and Land Resources Division (WLRD). Members of Flood Patrol are DNRP staff who volunteer to be on the ground during the rainy season. These volunteers have a “wide range of professional backgrounds, including engineers, capital project managers and ecologists,” according to DNRP.
King County sends out Flood Patrol once a river hits stage 3. In December, five out of six major King County rivers reached flood phase 4, defined as severe flooding with potentially threatening impacts on life, property, and critical infrastructure. Flood Patrol members work in pairs to better maintain safety in hazardous conditions. There is one pair per river, working 8-hour shifts, including overnight. The teams assess the integrity of levees, reinforce them, and quickly repair them if they breach.
“We have a specific route, we have an iPad, and they use an app called Field Maps, and it basically tells us where to go,” said Thomas Bannister, Flood Patrol member and WLRD environmental scientist. “Sometimes we’ll drive on leaves. We have easements on a lot of these facilities, and so we will drive on the facilities and make sure that there’s no potholes or any damages to the facilities or trees down.”
In the app, he said, they note physical observations, such as erosion, flood waters overtopping roads, and the performance of previously completed capital projects. These notes are then made available to staff in the Flood Warning Center, as the center and Flood Patrol “really work in tandem,” Bannister said. An atmospheric river is forecast to impact the area now. Widespread rainfall amounts between 1 and 2 inches are likely, with 3 to 5 inches of rain possible in areas such as the Olympics and Cascade foothills.
Sources:
foxweather.com/weather-news/pacific-northwest-faces-renewed-flood-threat-due-atmospheric-river
Kingcountyfloodcontrol.org
