BELLINGHAM — Washingtonians impacted by November’s devastating flooding may get additional financial assistance from the federal government, if Gov. Jay Inslee and Washington’s members of the U.S. Congress have their way.
All 12 U.S. senators and representatives from Washington sent a letter on Wednesday, Dec. 22, in support of Inslee’s Dec. 17 request to President Joe Biden asking him to announce a federal emergency major disaster declaration for the state. The declaration would give Washington access to a wide range of federal assistance programs to help communities recover from the November storms’ impacts.
The legislators’ letter outlines in stark detail why they believe a disaster declaration is necessary: Over 27 days, intense winter storms brought 8 to 16 inches of rain more than average, with some areas getting as much as 45 inches. The storms led to massive flooding, as well as power outages, mudslides and landslides.
It was the largest and most severe disaster that Whatcom County has ever seen in its 167-year history, the letter says, and at least 183 individuals were still in temporary housing in Whatcom as of Dec. 16.
Statewide, two people died as a result of November’s storms, and more than 1,000 homes were affected, with 300 “sustaining major damage.”
The flooding in Skagit County was the worst its been in 30 years, leaving behind almost $8 million in personal property damage and nearly $1.5 million in damage to businesses.
The Washington delegation highlighted an urgent need for individual assistance for residents in Clallam, Skagit and Whatcom counties as well as for the Lummi Nation, Nooksack Indian Tribe and the Quileute Tribe.
Federal individual assistance programs can help with personal property repairs or replacement, crisis counseling and training, disaster unemployment assistance, disaster legal services and disaster case management.
“The severe storms caused substantial damage to hundreds of homes outside mapped flood zones with numerous uninsured home and personal property losses,” the Washington legislators wrote in their letter, an effort led by U.S. Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, as well as U.S. Representatives Suzan DelBene and Derek Kilmer, according to a Dec. 22 news release from Murray’s office.
The U.S. lawmakers said that they also support any subsequent requests made for federal assistance as the state recovers from November’s flooding, since damages to public infrastructure are still being assessed.
