Issaquah outlines $3.8 million windstorm damage estimate and steps for FEMA, debris and wildfire preparedness

City staff told the Issaquah City Council on Feb. 24 that an October/January windstorm event and its aftermath have produced significant public costs and operations work for the city while prompting preparations for the coming wildfire season.

Financial and damage estimates Jillian Straub, management analyst, briefed the council on the city’s FEMA public‑assistance process and an updated estimate of local public costs. Based on work to date and projected capital projects (notably creek mitigation related to log‑jam removal and restoration), the city’s estimate of public costs is about $3,800,000. Straub noted that FEMA reimbursement requires a presidentially declared disaster determination before municipalities can receive federal public‑assistance funds; the state has requested a declaration and the city is tracking that process.

Staff reported 800 tons of debris removed from city property so far. City building‑safety and public‑works inspections recorded 17 privately owned structures with partial occupancy restrictions (yellow‑tagged) and nine structures judged unsafe for occupancy (red‑tagged). Debris removal operations remain active and parks and streets crews are scheduling stump grinding and tree‑replacement work; staff estimated roughly $275,000 to replace street and park trees that were lost as a public asset (approximate figure used to guide budgeting and program planning).

Creek and log‑jam work Public works identified nine log jams on the East Fork of Issaquah Creek; seven were deemed to require removal because of public‑safety risk, while two were left because they provided ecological benefits and did not present an imminent hazard. Staff cautioned that removed woody material will need to be managed so restoration does not raise local flood levels — a requirement of state and federal environmental rules — and that creek mitigation is a major source of cost uncertainty.

Wildfire preparation and evacuation work Emergency Manager Jared Schneider said the city is moving into spring preparedness work including a wildfire evacuation study and exercises. The evacuation study (about 400 survey respondents so far) models how quickly different neighborhoods could evacuate under different assumptions and will suggest short‑term operational changes (for example, signal timing or intersection staffing) as well as possible long‑term capital interventions to speed egress from high‑risk neighborhoods such as Forest Rim and Talus. Staff also described planned community workshops tied to Eastside Fire & Rescue’s Community Wildfire Protection Plan, continued promotion of Alert King County and Ready‑Set‑Go messaging, and a proposed expansion of a Wildfire Safe Eastside home‑risk assessment program via a grant request.

Funding scenarios and next steps Straub outlined a set of reimbursement possibilities ranging from no federal or state reimbursement to a typical FEMA scenario of 75% federal reimbursement of eligible public assistance with the remainder split among state and local shares in prior disasters. Under a 75% FEMA reimbursement scenario, staff estimated Issaquah’s net exposure at roughly $1.0 million; without federal or state assistance the city would need to absorb the full estimate across multiple funds and years. Straub said the city has submitted cost information to county and state emergency managers and is tracking potential legislative requests for supplemental state funding.

Staff emphasized the timing sensitivity of grant and reimbursement programs and said they will: (1) continue documenting costs and tracking eligible work, (2) pursue grant opportunities (for example, County Conservation Futures for acquisition projects related to storm impacts), and (3) bring updates to council as FEMA/state decisions and final cost accounting are available.