The area where the Desimone levee was breached is seen along the Green River in Tukwila on Friday. Soon after the breach, the National Weather Service issued a flash flood warning to about 46,000 residents and… (Erika Schultz / The Seattle Times)More
By
Greg Kim
Seattle Times staff reporter
Some mayors in South King County say the National Weather Service and King County incited chaos when those agencies warned of “life threatening flash flooding” after the Green River tore a hole in the levee near Tukwila on Dec. 15. County officials countered that those cities were consulted ahead of alerts.
Waters breached the Desimone levee around 11:30 a.m. and within 14 minutes, the National Weather Service issued a flash flood warning to about 46,000 residents. King County ordered an evacuation to residents and businesses east of the Green River in the Orillia area in Tukwila, Renton and Kent.
Within two hours, officials reduced the area of concern to about 1,100 people and by 6:30 p.m. the weather service’s flash flood warning ended with no injuries reported.
Kent Mayor Dana Ralph said some floodwaters entered the city but not enough to warrant the alarm that was raised.
“The messaging was so disproportionate to what was happening on the ground that it created pure chaos,” Ralph said.
She said residents following evacuation orders created such a large traffic gridlock that it slowed workers from fixing the hole in the levee.
“As we were trying to bring our dump trucks and the excavator and the material in, we had to provide police escorts to those vehicles to get them to the location,” Ralph said.
Renton Mayor Armondo Pavone said the initial alerts created “borderline panic” in downtown Renton. He said many businesses, including his, closed during a time of year they count on increased sales from holiday shopping. More broadly, he said it’s important for officials to get messaging right so people maintain trust in them.
“There’s also the cry wolf thing,” Pavone said. “You start screaming fire too many times and people aren’t going to leave the building anymore.”
The National Weather Service’s Seattle office defended its decision-making in a statement, saying it talked with King County staff on the ground who confirmed there was a significant and growing breach in the levee and saw nearby roads were rapidly flooding. The agency also said it worked with the county to determine how the water would flow and what areas could be impacted.
King County officials said the evacuation alert was discussed with emergency managers from Kent, Renton and Tukwila before it was sent. Erik Houser, a spokesperson for King County Executive Girmay Zahilay, said those cities agreed with the county’s analysis of flood risks and with the area the alert should be sent to.
The National Weather Service said it was working with local partners to review lessons to improve collaboration moving forward.
Tukwila, where the levee failure occurred, was more supportive of the National Weather Service and King County.
A spokesperson for Tukwila Mayor Thomas McLeod said that at the time the alert went out, the severity of the breach was unknown and that previous flood modeling showed even a partial failure could impact the city as well as its neighbors.
“Given the information immediately available and the potential regional consequences, it was prudent for agencies to issue appropriate alerts and notices,” Tukwila spokesperson Brandon Miles said.
Greg Kim: 206-464-2532 or grkim@seattletimes.com. Greg Kim is a reporter for Climate Lab at The Seattle Times who writes about the intersection of climate, energy and business. Previously, he worked on Project Homeless.