Today’s Speaker:

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Kathleen Berger: Pierce County - Kathleen leads the Pierce County PPW SWM Partnership, Project and Financial Strategy (aka, Synchronized SWM Team ) with a focus on advancing watershed flood resilience, salmon habitat, and water quality throughout Pierce County through complex project support, financial strategy and sustaining connection with partners.

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Troy Havens, Yakima County - Troy is the Senior Water Resources Manager at Yakima County and manages the Yakima County-wide Flood Control Zone District and the Water Resources Division. He’s spent the past 12 years at Yakima County through various positions within the Division tackling all aspects of integrated floodplain management including stakeholder/public outreach, levee management, contracting, hydraulic modeling, grant writing, design, planning, permitting, hiring and personnel management, flood response, review of development proposals and review and preparation of no-rise certifications and CLOMR reviews.

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Chris Ewing: King County - Chris is a civil engineer specializing in water resources and hydrology. He has a diverse skill set and experience with the design, implementation, and management of capital projects. His current focus is on the delivery of large-scale habitat restoration projects for King County's Water and Land Resource Division. He also has experience with basin-scale hydrologic and hydraulic studies, flood protection projects, and fish-passage improvements.

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Agenda:

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• 12:00 - 12:05 - Welcome and Intro

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• 12:05-12:15 - Kathleen Berger, Pierce County

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• 12:15 -12:25 - Chris Ewing, King County

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• 12:25-12:35 - Troy Havens, Yakima County

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• 12:35-12:45 - Questions and Discussion

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• 12:45 - 12:50 - Integrated Flood Resilience Vision and Needs Dashboard

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• 12:50 - 1:00 - Q & A continued for those that want to stay

In the 2025 flood, Pierce County did….okay?

• Specific storm path
• A little luck
• Proactive disaster planning and response
• Prior strategic investment in floodplain reconnection projects and flood-risk acquisitions

*Days the rivers were at action stage or higher compared to the last four “big” floods

The areas that were expected to flood did flood.

Several places with extensive damage to homes, property, roads, etc. have work advancing in proximity.

Ex: Johns Rd in Wilkeson with South Prairie Creek/Wilkeson Creek Restoration Catalog

Pro-active Flood Risk Reduction Acquisitions

Total in Pierce County from 1989 to 2024

• 508 At-risk structures removed
• 1692 Acres acquired
• Willing Sellers

Images: Property acquisition with Floodplains by Design funding for the Clear Creek Floodplain Reconnection Project

2009 VS 2022 on Redfin

*images from redfin property posting.

2025 Flood Damages

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Flood Damages

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60 parcels at the Clear Creek Floodplain Reconnection Project

50 parcels at Alward Rd Floodplain Reconnection Project

Many parcels at Neadham Rd Floodplain Reconnection Project

Arterial road at Orville Rd Revetment and Floodplain Reconnection Project

Fennel Creek Floodplain Reconnection Project

*These are preliminary*

• 131 Total Reports - Self and Call Center - As of 1/9/26 - Preliminary Information*
• 122 Resident - 53 Affected, 18 Minor, 40 Destroyed, 11 No Report
• 9 Business - 5 Affected, 2 Minor, 2 Destroyed

General Categories of Self Reporting

• Affected: Non-structural damage to a home that does not make the home unsafe to enter or occupy.
• Minor: Repairable, non-structural damage to a home or damage from flood waters when the waterline is below the electrical outlets in an essential living space in a conventionally built home, or when the waterline is in the floor system of a manufactured home.
• Destroyed: Significant enough damage that the home is deemed a total loss.

2025 Flood Event- Clear Creek

Before acquisitions (23ish structures)

Before:

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2025 Flood Event- Clear Creek

After Acquisitions

2025 Flood Event- Clear Creek

Flood

2025 Flood Event- Clear Creek

Before Acquisitions (18ish structures)

2025 Flood Event- Clear Creek

Flood (3 structures)

2025 Flood Event- Clear Creek

Before Acquisitions (8 structures)

2025 Flood Event- Clear Creek

Flood

Drone Flyover of Clear Creek 2025 Flood

Drone flyover Orville at Kapowsin

Chris Ewing, King County

THE CRISIS &

THE OPPORTUNITY

Major flooding events harm people, critical habitats, livelihoods and infrastructure

Integrated floodplain management (IFM) investments work,

more investment needed.

The Crisis

The Opportunity

62

19

$655,078,151

TOTAL PROJECTS

TRIBAL LEAD

OF NEED IN FUNDING OVER 2 BIENNIUMS

ABLE TO ADVANCE IN THE NEXT 6 MONTHS

In December with input from numerous leaders and project managers, we created a dashboard that aggregates over $600 million in flood recovery and resilience needs to build the case for post-disaster investment that would carry long-term benefits for communities, the State and Federally.

The Opportunity

Upcoming Events:

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• January 28th (1-3pm)- Special Post-Flood Floodplains by Design Funding and Policy Group meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/5653221882?omn=88053638300

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There are frequently two key foci after a major disaster 1) post disaster response and recovery and 2) seize the opportunity while politicians, elected officials and press are engaged to launch long-term resilience work forward instead of allowing for the reinforcement of what we know is not working. This meeting will touch on both of these critical aspects of a post-disaster world. The integrated floodplain network is poised in new ways both in local jurisdictions and watersheds and as a statewide and even national network to respond and act in poignant and hopefully powerful ways.

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• February 5th Lunch and Learn - Condemned: The Transformation of Race and Swampy Spaces in South Carolina (Dr. Morgan Vickers)
• �This talk by Dr. Morgan P. Vickers, Assistant Professor of Race/Racialization in the Department of Law, Societies & Justice at the University of Washington, brings listeners on a journey through the history of Black swampland inhabitation in Lowcountry South Carolina. Introducing attendees to concepts like "racialization" and "the invention of nature," Dr. Vickers will demonstrate how the transformation of "wasted" wetland space and the denigration of "undesirable" people was and continues to be an explicitly social and racial project. This talk will highlight the role of average citizens, large-scale farmers, businesses, and policymakers in the social and material transformation of the Lowcountry, ultimately resulting in the drying of floodplains, the rerouting of rivers, and the construction of dams, levees, and other public works projects. The talk will conclude with a brief discussion around the present legacies of channelization and racialization, identifying how we might address the avulsions and crises of the present and future.

Check Out: FbD Priority Efforts

https://floodplainsbydesign.org/about/priority-efforts/