KPLU Local News
(2010-10-19)
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Workers repairing the storm-damaged Howard Hanson Dam in August, 2009
USACE Flickr stream
What does it mean for the storm-damaged Howard Hanson Dam on the Green River in south King County? The news for nervous residents of Auburn, Kent, Renton and other communities on the lower Green River is encouraging.
After extensive testing, the US Army Corps of Engineers says the temporary repairs made to the dam last year worked better than expected. That'll allow operators to fill the reservoir behind the dam to at least 50 percent capacity. That raises the odds against a flood happening from one in 25 last season to one in 60 this year.
The Army Corps' Larry Schick says more improvements are on the way.
"We have design and planned work for later this winter into next spring," he says, "and we expect to have to it back to designed capacity by this time next year."
That would put the odds of a flood at one in 140.
Meanwhile, King County officials have inspected 26 miles of bank along the river and bolstered hundreds of so-called "Super-Sacks." Those are huge sandbags atop the levees that have been covered with plastic to form a flood barrier.
The county has also expanded an emergency notification program where residents can sign up for e-mails, texts or phone calls to warn them if a flood is likely.
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