Water-filled barriers and walls constructed of concrete blocks could be used to hold back the Green River from the Maleng Regional Justice Center, but members of the Metropolitan King County Council were told Wednesday that if the federal Howard Hanson Dam floods the Green River Valley, the justice center and other County facilities may still be unusable.
The news came in the second of a series of briefings held by the Council’s Committee of the Whole.
“While the county works with cities in the Green River Valley to coordinate mitigation efforts and emergency preparedness, we must also plan for the continuation of County services that impact all of King County,” said Councilmember Bob Ferguson, chair of the Council’s Committee of the Whole.
“King County provides critical services and programs that are located in the historic flood plain,” said Councilmember Julia Patterson, who also serves as Chair of the Flood Control District. “It is imperative that we take measures now to protect the County’s facilities and to keep operations running smoothly in the event of a flood.”
The Council’s Committee of the Whole was briefed on plans now being made to minimize damage to County facilities in the historic flood plain while protecting the people who work in or are housed in the buildings.
To help keep water out of buildings like the Regional Justice Center, perimeter protection could be provided by walls constructed of concrete blocks and by plastic sleeves filled with water known as Aqua-Barriers, according to Kathy Brown, director of the King County Facilities Management Division. Even with those measures, she said staff will still have to pump out seepage around the walls and address groundwater that rises up inside the buildings.
Brown said the Department of Adult and Juvenile Detention is seeking agreements for locations to temporarily house both the jail inmates at the Justice Center and the courts and justice programs. She said inmates could possibly be housed in detention facilities in Kitsap, Pierce and Snohomish Counties as well as the Federal Detention Facility, while court operations might relocate to the King County Courthouse in Seattle or other owned or leased space.
To prevent any disruption to the November general election, Brown told Councilmembers of a preliminary plan to move the Elections Office out of the Earlington Building in Renton to temporary facilities at the County’s Airport Operations Center by early October.
Brown said the focus at the King County Animal Shelter in Kent will be on the evacuation and housing of the shelter animals. She estimated housing will also be needed for up to 1,500 stray dogs and cats and 500 large animals and livestock, as well as animals that are found during the flood event, with temporary facilities for pets to be held nearby the emergency shelters where their owners take refuge.
Roads will be maintained for as long as possible before they are submerged by floodwaters, according to Harold Taniguchi, director of the King County Department of Transportation.
Wastewater crews at the South Treatment Plant in Renton will stay on the job and keep the plant operating around the clock, even if they have to sleep at the site and be ferried in and out by airboat, said Jim Faccone, Safety and Health Supervisor with the County’s Wastewater Treatment Division.
If needed, Faccone said wastewater could be shunted to the West Point Facility in Seattle to relieve pressure on the South Treatment Plant, which lies in what he called “the bottom of the valley.”
