This webpage is to inform readers of updates to the website. The updates will remain for a period of three months and then will be replaced with the following month.
| Date |
Title |
Summary |
| May 2008 | ||
| Guest Documents | ||
| 04/30/2008 |
Ayn Rand Institute: How Government Makes Disasters More Disastrous | “The Katrina tragedy should have called into question the so-called safety net composed of government policies that actually encourage people to embrace risks they would otherwise shun--to build in defiance of historically obvious dangers, secure in the knowledge that innocent others will be forced to share the costs when the worst happens. ” |
| General Webpage Updates for May 2008 | ||
| Historical Quote of the Month | “...Rivers were here long before man, and for untold ages”... | |
| April 2008 | ||
| New Documents | ||
| City of Burlington Documents | ||
| 04/23/2008 |
Update Skagit River Flood Issues |
Latest presentation showing how historical data does not support the USGS, FEMA, and Corps of Engineers hydraulic data. |
| Corps of Engineers Documents | ||
| 02/01/1950 |
Report on Derivation of Standard Project Flood |
“Standard project flood was determined to be 440,000 cfs. … The standard project flood was derived for natural river conditions and assumes no regulation by the dams.” |
| 02/21/1952 |
Appendix to Report on Survey for Flood Control of SKAGIT RIVER AND TRIBUTARIES, WASHINGTON | Excellent description of the Standard Project Flood and current (as in 1952) potential dam sites. |
| 10/15/1996 |
Wynn Letter to Leonard Halverson | “I also realize that for every change man makes to a river's levee system, a change in the river may result.” |
| FEMA Documents | ||
| 3/27/2008 |
FEMA Letter to Skagit County Commissioners |
FEMA announces upgrade of FLO-2D software and that the Corps of Engineers "recently discovered the historic data necessary to convert the data for the Skagit River near Concrete for water years 1924-1944 to unregulated conditions." |
| Puget Sound Energy Documents | ||
| 2/1989 |
Baker Dam Failure Inundation Study |
“The flow produced at Sedro-Woolley by the failure of both Upper and Lower Baker Dams is nearly as large as the maximum observed historic flood of 220,000 cfs on November 30, 1909.” |
| Seattle City Light Documents | ||
| 12/1981 |
Skagit River Dam Failure Inundation Study |
“The flow produced by the failure of Ross Dam is several times larger than the maximum observed historic flood at Sedro-Woolley (220,000 cfs, November 30, 1909). At Sedro-Woolley the maximum historic flood produces a maximum water surface elevation of 50 feet, while the maximum dam failure discharge of 1,740,000 cfs produces a maximum stage of 75 feet at the same location.” |
| Skagit Flood Advisory Conference Team (Skagit FACT) Documents | ||
| 4/21/2008 |
Skagit FACT Newsletter |
Skagit FACT current assessment of flood control efforts in Skagit Valley. |
| Guest Documents | ||
| 04/01/2008 |
Washington University in St. Louis: Geologist decries floodplain development |
This article should be must reading for all residents of Skagit and Lewis County. "When people build commercial or
residential real estate in flood plains, when they build on sink holes, when
they build on fault lines, when they build on the hillsides in L.A. that are
going to burn and burn, over and over again, they're ignoring geologic reality," Criss says. "They're asking for chronic problems." |
| General Webpage Updates for April 2008 | ||
| Ask the Angry Citizen | A/C discusses the Skagit FACT 9 and invites your comments. | |
| Historical Quote of the Month | “I also realize that for every change man makes to a river's levee system, a change in the river may result.” | |
| Links |
New link to La Conner Chamber of Commerce. |
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| Fred Slipper Soliloquy - When down in the dump wasn't such a bad place | Memories of the old Sedro-Woolley dump. | |
| Rain Gauge | Updated for March 2008. | |
| Video | Updated Skagit21 flood issue videos as of 19 April 2008. | |
| March 2008 | ||
| New Documents | ||
| LJK Documents | ||
| 12/04/2007 |
Historic Flood Flows of the Skagit River |
This document list the flood events and the recorded flows. I first put this together in 1991 when I authored Skagit River Valley The Disaster Waiting To Happen. Most of the information came from the 1979 Corps of Engineers GDM used for the 1979 Levee Improvement project proposal. I have updated the document each time we had another flood event. It is sort of a running record of flood events on the Skagit River. |
| FEMA Documents | ||
| 9/2005 |
NFIP Insurance Report as of September 2005 |
National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) spreadsheet for Skagit County as of September 2005 for premiums, coverage amounts, total claims since 1978 and payouts for flood damages (Doll). |
| 2/2008 |
Proposed Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) for Determining 100-year Flood Elevations |
Proposed framework for 3 judge panel to address all evidence as to what a 100-year flood would be on the Skagit River. |
| 2/11/2008 |
Skagit River System Cooperative Letter to Ryan Ike, Re: FEMA mapping process for Skagit Valley |
Skagit River System Cooperative (SRSC) opposes 3 judge panel and states, "We are confident that FEMA has used the best available science to this point in the process." |
| 2/26/2008 |
FEMA Letter to Mayor Bud Norris of Mount Vernon, Re: 3 Judge Panel |
"After evaluating the proposed scope, effect, panel selection (procedures), and anticipated outcome, FEMA finds several significant issues that preclude agreement to the MOA. In summary, we believe the submitted MOA violates public due process, presumes that FEMA will not provide an unbiased adjudication, and sets an unnecessary precedence for deviating from established federal regulations . . . We are also concerned that the list of parties signing this MOA is not inclusive, yet the expected outcome of the MOA would be applied to the entire geographic area." |
| 3/10/2008 |
Disaster News: FEMA Report Shows Mitigation Saves Money |
"Mitigation work in the Centralia area after the 1996 floods saved a estimated $1.9 million in residential home damage in the December 2007 floods, a new Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) report concluded." |
| Skagit County Documents | ||
| 1/22/2008 |
Resolution Directing County Staff to Proceed With Contesting Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) 100-Year Flood Maps |
Skagit County Commissioners direct Public Works "to prepare and defend a scientifically accurate hydrology of the Skagit River system before an independent three-member panel" as well as "an interlocal agreement with the City of Mount Vernon and the City of Burlington" for sharing work and costs of such. |
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| 4/9/2007 |
Town of Concrete Town Council Meeting Minutes |
A councilmember who disclosed having a father-in-law as a Puget Sound Energy employee says "all requirements had been met" for PSE to make modifications to Lower Baker Dam and its accompanying powerhouse - in spite of inadequate flood control. |
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| 2000 | Census Statistics |
Town of Hamilton and other upriver areas well below Skagit County, Washington State and national per capita income levels. |
| 2000 | Selected Economic Statistics for the Town of Hamilton |
Among other statistics, no family in Hamilton with income higher than $100,000 and over 50% of citizens on some sort of public assistance. |
| 2/2007 | Skagit Floodway Mitigation and Hamilton Relocation Program Fact Sheet |
Fact sheet explaining the legal requirements and many economic benefits of relocating Hamilton out of the floodplain, "FEMA reports that losses to date for the 100 flood affected properties in Hamilton alone cost public programs and the NFIP close to $20 million." |
| 3/10/2008 | March 10, 2008 Hamilton Public Development Authority Survey Results |
Statistical summary of 47 surveys "to provide political decision makers with a snapshot of Hamilton floodway resident’s flood experience, socio-economic situation, and impression regarding town relocation." |
| City of Mount Vernon Documents | ||
| 2/28/2008 |
Cultural Resources Assessment for the Mount Vernon Downtown Flood Protection Project |
Cultural Resource Consultants, Inc. takes a look at the history of downtown Mount Vernon in preparation for the city's flood protection project. Excellent research on the history of Skagit County. |
| Guest Documents | ||
| Jan-Feb 2008 |
Weatherwise "California Washed Away: The Great Flood of 1862" by Jan Null and Joelle Hulbert | "California's 30 days of rain in December 1861 and January 1862 was the equivalent of at least a 30.000-year [flood] event." |
| 3/6/2008 |
Daryl Hamburg Essay: Food For Thought, Skagit River System |
Dike District 17 Commissioner essay begins with, "We can no longer look at flood control as a protection device. Levies do not protect communities. They REDUCE RISK. Thus we are not capable of protecting our public from the forces of the mighty Skagit River." |
| General Webpage Updates for March 2008 | ||
| Ask the Angry Citizen |
A/C shares an August 2007 e-mail originally sent to the Burlington Public Works director concerning various issues of flood control projects and their funding. |
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| Fred Slipper Soliloquy - 100th Anniversary of the Founding of Sedro |
Discussion of history of the Courier-Times, the hyphen in Sedro-Woolley and the City Hall in Sedro-Woolley. |
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| Historical Quote of the Month |
Problems with assuming "the 100-year flood line as a safe benchmark." |
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| Links |
New links to Skagit River System Cooperative, a tribal "fisheries management" organization for the Skagit River Basin and BC Explorers, which archived all the Concrete Herald front pages. |
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| Rain Gauge | Mostly updated for January and February 2008. | |