King County Roads crews continue to patch up flood damage
<<Sounds of repair work>> Narrator Says: Long after the water has receded, the repair work continues in the aftermath of the record flooding King County saw early this year. This work, along W. Snoqualmie River Road, to repair the shoulder is a microcosm of a few trouble spots that are still undergoing repair in the county. This was the scene from the air in the midst of the heavy flooding. Many parts of the county under water, the damage lasting for weeks and months afterward. One such damaged spot was this section of David Powell Road off of Preston-Fall City Road in the Snoqualmie Valley. This is the view from the air, and this from the ground. Maintenance Supervisor Will Fogelberg says the flooding event was very challenging, and caused plenty of damage. Maintenance Supervisor Will Fogelberg Says: We're located out in southeast King County, out in the fall city area and this is David Powell Road. As you can see behind me this road is being prepped for paving right now. It's nearly five weeks after the storm. We're still working five days a week, sometimes six, depending on the road and the location to get these things repaired. You can see from the aerials and behind me from the rockery in the river. What happens is that the river cut into the bank, the road actually slid down in, left about one lane of travel open for the public. We came in right away within a couple days, we put over a hundred loads of rock and material in this hole and you can see we're still in the stages where we're getting ready to pave it, five weeks after the storm. Our immediate response was to get it stabilized and prevent any further damage. Narrator Says: A little bit farther south and east, it was this section of 415th Way between SE 142nd and Ribary Way just off I-90 near north bend that also washed away. Woodinville-Duvall road lay in pieces after the flood waters receded. Even roads that weren’t washed away were sometimes inundated and impassable. Fogelberg says safety is always the first priority as crews rush to close flooded roads in response to events like these. Maintenance Supervisor Will Fogelberg Says: Our immediate response is to protect human life, and the safety of the traveling public through our roads. So the first thing is, for a scenario like this here, is to either close the road off, make sure it's barricaded, make sure we notify residents, we have issues here. Just make it safe it what we want to do. And then, as you mentioned, our lifeline routes which are main arterials leading to hospitals, main cities and whatnot, we'll get those opened up and that's our priority. We'll start working on secondary stuff, it's unfortunate we can't be everywhere at once as we'd like to be. But, we do have to prioritize our work that we're going to do. Narrator Says: At its peak, the flooding had more than 40 roads in King County closed. Fogelberg also says, events like this year’s, and the not-too-distant severe flooding in late 2006 always provide him and his crews with vital lessons that he says can help in future flooding events. Maintenance Supervisor Will Fogelberg Says: There's always lessons to be learned from these types of storms. Every storm is different, that's what makes them tough, hindsight's always 20/20 and you can look back and you can say, boy if we'd done this it would've worked out great. And so the next storm comes along and you do it that way and that wasn't the way to do it. But, as long as you continue to learn as you go along and you're building history of how things react in different situations. Narrator Says: Work on the flooded roads in the county will soon wrap up. Initial estimates put the damage total around $10 to 12 million.
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