Pacific residents unload on Army Corps about flood

Residents of this small town between Tacoma and Seattle have given an earful to the Army Corps of Engineers over flooding last week, saying they were not notified before water was released from Mud Mountain Dam, which was built to prevent flooding in the area.

The release, ordered Jan. 8 after the reservoir behind the earthen dam on the White River had filled to 75 percent of capacity from heavy rain and snowmelt, was the subject of a frequently emotional public forum that drew a standing-room-only crowd of about 300 people Tuesday evening at Alpac Elementary School.

"From now on, when you let water loose from the dam, have the courtesy to come and tell us," Carol McMullen said.

"Your guys' mess-up is a big burden," said Daniel Cottom, who got about 8 inches of water in his apartment. "What you guys did hurt us. We don't have homes."

The dam on the Pierce-King county line east of Buckley controls about 40 percent of the Puyallup River system, which includes the White River. It was designed to prevent flood water from breaching levees and flooding downstream communities, including Puyallup, Fife and Pacific. Water normally is released from the dam once the flood surge is over.

The flooding in Pacific was upsetting and indicates something has changed in the river system, Wayne Wagner, the corps' deputy chief for operations at Mud Mountain, told The News Tribune.

"It's our mission to protect people and property and to have that happen is surprising and very embarrassing," he said.

Homeowners Larry and Theresa Snider and their renter, David Dreilling, said their home's crawl space filled with 2 feet of water and a pump running nonstop since Friday has reduced the water level by only about 4 inches. Structural beams have swollen, damaging the floors on both stories, and repairs can begin only when the water is all gone.

"I want to hear from FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency). I want to know, will they come in to offer public assistance for the reconstruction of damaged dwellings?" Larry Snider asked at the forum.

Corps officials said Tuesday that that the flooding in Pacific could have been controlled 11 hours earlier had the agency been notified, The Seattle Times reported.

At the same time, corps officials said that even once they learned that two subdivisions in the town of 6,000 residents were being flooded, it took two hours to obtain an order to slow the release of water.

At its peak, the corps expected to release 11,700 cubic feet per second, the same amount that was released during heavy rains in 2006 with little effect in Pacific beyond minor flooding in a park.

"We need to find out what happened and why," corps spokeswoman Andrea Takash said. "It's important because floods are going to happen again. It's going to rain, and this is the Northwest."

Mayor Rich Hildreth said he called the King County Emergency Coordination Center about 10 p.m. on Jan. 8 to report that the White River was rising rapidly.

Jeff Bowers, assistant director of the county's Office of Emergency Management, said he relayed that concern the same night to the corps, adding, "I'm positive I talked to somebody," but corps officials said they had no record of such a call.

Bowers said that once he called the corps, it was up to officials in Pacific to follow up with the federal agency.

Takash told The Times she could not find the number Bowers said he called on any corps list, including home, office and cellular telephones.

Corps officials say they first learned of flooding in Pacific in a call to the agency's emergency operations center in Seattle about 6:15 a.m. Friday, Jan. 9. A flood engineer drove to the town about 7 a.m., observed flooding and offered the mayor more sandbags at around 8 a.m., Takash said.