2013 Historical Quotes of the Month
“I think that if these parties will come together and this is allowed, I think this is the beginning point for Skagit County to develop a diking system that they’ll be proud of. I think they all need to be in concert on that.”
(Source: Lorna Ellstad, Dike District 12 County Commissioner, June 12, 2013 Skagit County Hearing Examiner Hearing on Dike District 12 Shoreline Substantial Development Permit, SkagitRiverHistory.com Partial Unofficial Transcript of June 12, 2013 Public Hearing Before the Skagit County Hearing Examiner, Re: Shoreline Substantial Development Permit PL12-0144)
“The tieback levees can affect upstream and downstream properties. If the GI Study determines that a tieback levee is required then this would also be needed to be constructed before accreditation. If a high ground tieback is required, this could occur to Sedro-Woolley, Sterling Hill, or Burlington Hill.”
(Source: John Semrau, Dike District 12 Engineer, June 12, 2013 Skagit County Hearing Examiner Hearing on Dike District 12 Shoreline Substantial Development Permit, SkagitRiverHistory.com Partial Unofficial Transcript of June 12, 2013 Public Hearing Before the Skagit County Hearing Examiner, Re: Shoreline Substantial Development Permit PL12-0144)
“The present levee system we have is a very false sense of security for the people. . . . They have no idea what that Skagit River can do to them and I think it’s our responsibility to do something.”
(Source: Thomas J. Sheehan, former Director of the Skagit County Department of Emergency Management, June 12, 2013 Skagit County Hearing Examiner Hearing on Dike District 12 Shoreline Substantial Development Permit)
“Doing what we can do now with our own resources to protect our own people. So that’s really what this is all about.”
(Source: John Schultz, April 24, 2013 SKAGITRIVERHISTORY.COM TRANSCRIPT OF APRIL 24, 2013 PUBLIC HEARING Before the Skagit County Hearing Examiner, RE: SHORELINE SUBSTANTIAL DEVELOPMENT PERMIT PL12-0144)
“There's a wise saying that “Floods are acts of God, but flood damages are acts of man”.”
“Flooding the Samish River Valley will result in "11,000 acre-feet more volume than existing conditions after 12 hours of flooding. This results in increases of up to 3-4 feet in water depths over existing conditions."
(Source: September 6, 1978 Corps MFR RE: Higher Flood Levels to the Samish)
“It was concluded that we should consider closing off Avon with high levees while keeping the Samish open. However, the case of closing off both the Samish and Avon was eliminated because of the extreme increase in downstream flows and the associated impacts.”
(Source: August 21, 1978 Corps MFR re Project Meeting to Discuss Project Hydraulics with attached maps showing assumed levee breaks)
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Seepage is also of major concern in our district during times of high water due to the porous nature of much of the soil along the river, as well as to the material used to construct the dikes. . . . We feel that a major portion of our dikes from the Fir Island bridge and north should be more impervious to seepage; most of them having been made from the sandy soil available on the site. . . .We are sure you are aware of the fact that the December 1975 high water nearly-inundated downtown Mt. Vernon by overtopping the revetment and/or Main Street, from the West side bridge and south. This again constitutes a part of our dike district and requires some serious thinking. Other dikes are raised, what happens to this area?”(Source: June 26, 1978 Dike District #3 letter to Corps re Fischer Slough, 1975 flood, and response to Corp questionnaire.)