Kent officials review citywide flood response, levee work and recovery plans after December storms

At a workshop, CAO Pat Fitzpatrick and department leaders gave a detailed account of the mid-December storm event that stressed regional reservoirs and levees and produced flooding in the south end of Kent.

"As you know, we had a pretty significant weather event here that caused some flooding in the Southern End Of Kent," Fitzpatrick said, noting that the Howard Hanson Dam and Army Corps releases raised river levels across King County. Fitzpatrick emphasized Kent did not experience a levee failure within the city and credited prior investments and partnerships with the King County Flood Control District for limiting damage.

Public Works (speaker identified in the transcript as Chad) summarized continuous DOC/EOC staffing, 24-hour levee patrols, deployment of HESCO baskets and about 8,000 sandbags staged around vulnerable reaches, and temporary pump deployments that helped reopen SR-167 after water receded. Chad described pre-event monitoring, rapid staging of equipment and materials, and coordination to get excavators to a Desimone levee breach site; crews completed an initial repair by that night.

Deputy Chief Stansfield said police focused on evacuation notifications (reverse-911 and texts), drone reconnaissance, traffic escorts to get heavy equipment into affected areas, and limited security patrols to deter suspected looting in evacuated zones. To protect custodial operations during the crisis, the department temporarily moved 33 inmates to Yakima County to reduce local jail population and maintain evacuation flexibility.

Parks staff described red/blue ECC staffing, trail and park closures (seven primary parks impacted), relocation of critical equipment from Russell Road, and plans and partners for mass sheltering (short-term Kent Commons support and longer-term use of high-school gyms and Showare as overflow). Parks estimated revenue losses (canceled events) and repair needs for damaged park amenities.

Finance staff said the city is tracking costs in a dedicated recovery project bucket to support possible FEMA/state claims and gave a preliminary cost estimate of about $1,200,000 covering equipment rates, overtime and damage. "We're estimated about $1,200,000 in costs to be able to navigate this between some of those costs," the finance presenter said, and warned that FEMA/state reimbursement is not guaranteed and often covers a portion of eligible costs if approved.

Economic & Community Development described creation of a Private Property Recovery team to contact affected businesses and residents, build a "no wrong door" intake for inquiries, combine GIS and license data to identify impacted parcels, and mail outreach material: staff said they mailed about 1,300 flyers and conducted hundreds of follow-up contacts in the first week. ECD staff cautioned that state and federal individual assistance is limited and often supplemental; they advised managing expectations about recovery dollars.

Multiple presenters praised the Regional Fire Authority and regional partners for ECC staffing and assistance, and city staff said an after-action review will begin to capture lessons learned and potential improvements to planning, communication and interagency coordination.

Next steps include continuing damage assessment, tracking costs in the recovery project account, outreach to affected businesses and residents through the private-property recovery team, pursuing available state or federal funding where appropriate, and conducting an after-action review of operations and coordination.