WA schools grapple with flooding fallout

Four years ago, 4 feet of water flooded into Sumas Elementary and destroyed the school.

Fortunately, the Nooksack Valley School District was already constructing a new building, using voter-approved bond funds. Now situated above the flood plain, the construction site stayed dry during the historic 2021 floods that destroyed the old elementary school building.

Last week, that new building was tested when flooding returned to Sumas, Whatcom County, a town of almost 1,600 near the U.S.-Canadian border that used to be a lake until it was drained by settlers in the 1920s. This time, the school building stayed dry, 10 inches above the floodwater. But the auxiliary gym and the playground around the school suffered.

Roughly 7 miles south down state Highway 9, Nooksack Valley Middle School’s auxiliary gym and transportation office had about 2 feet of water in them on Thursday night.

“(The flooding) was astronomical four years ago and it was very similar to this go-around,” Matt Galley, the superintendent of the roughly 2,000-student school district, said Tuesday, the first day students went back to school since the atmospheric river forced districtwide closures Thursday through Monday.

“There is a lot less damage this go-around, (so) we did learn something,” Galley added.

Elementary school attendance was about 90% of normal Tuesday, and about 80% for the high school, Galley said. He added that most of those are excused absences, as he believes many high schoolers, in particular, are absent because they are volunteering in community flood-relief efforts.

While school is back in session for Sumas Elementary, recess is not. The standing floodwater still surrounding the school is contaminated with fuel and sewage. The bark around the playground will need to be replaced, and the hard surfaces of the playground equipment will need to be cleaned.

“Kids can’t be anywhere near this stuff,” Galley said. “Without playgrounds, we have 300 elementary kids that can’t do anything. This is a safety and well-being issue for our staff and kids.”

During a typical rainy season, the grass around the school turns to “muck all winter,” Galley added. “Once you have an event like this you can’t even walk on it without sinking.”

Galley is confident the district’s flood insurance will cover replacing the gym and office floors at the damaged schools, but he is not sure whether insurance will cover the necessary playground equipment replacement. That is why he wrote to the state’s office of superintendent of public instruction on Tuesday, seeking extra financial help.

While OSPI does not have a general reserve fund to offer additional financial support to school districts, the state agency does have emergency funds available to address school facility issues related to natural disasters and building system failures, said OSPI spokesperson Katy Payne in an email.

Districts can request funding from the Emergency Repair Pool to make needed building repairs so that school can resume. Requests for funding are granted on a first-come, first-served basis, Payne added.

Most schools in Western Washington were not damaged during the past week of record rains and flooding, though a few buildings across the state were impacted.

Skykomish School District’s one school building that houses pre-K through 12th grade students sustained damage from surface water entering the building’s first floor, the district reported Friday on its Facebook page. School is canceled for Skykomish students this week, starting winter break earlier than planned. Students will not return until after the new year.

Snoqualmie Valley School District schools were largely unscathed, though a few parking lots were flooded. In particular, Mount Si High School’s parking garage had water enter the stairwells and elevator shafts that serve the garage, according to Conor Laffey, the district’s communication officer. Laffey noted, however, that the school’s 2019 redesign, which elevated the school on plinths, functioned as expected, allowing floodwater to flow underneath the building, through the parking garage, and out through culverts under the ballfields.

Officials at school districts in Bellingham, Tukwila and Auburn confirmed all buildings were also safe and dry, despite severe flooding in those areas.

But even districts that didn’t experience physical damage still felt the impacts. Lake Washington School District in northeast King County closed several schools Thursday and Friday because too many staff called out of work, most dealing with flooding fallout in their home neighborhoods, according to district spokespeople.

Auburn School District closed Alpac Elementary on Tuesday out of an “abundance of caution” in response to the levee failure in Pacific. Highline Public Schools and Tukwila School District both canceled after-school programs as a precaution.

Other districts in Pierce, King, Snohomish, Skagit and Whatcom counties canceled school or had late start times on Thursday and Friday of last week, and some again on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, generally to make accommodations for flood-related evacuations and transportation issues.