Politics & Government

Totem Lake Flood Control Work Passes Rainstorm's Test -- So Far

A $335,000 project to improve drainage and alleviate chronic minor flooding and lane closures on Totem Lake Boulevard appears to be working.

A $335,000 city project to alleviate chronic flooding along Totem Lake Boulevard appears to have passed the test posed by this week’s intense rainstorms.

“The work we’ve done is proving to be helpful in a big way,” Noel Hupprich, city engineer for the project, said Wednesday. “Were getting a nice test. I went out there this morning to see how we’ve fared--so far, so good.”

Over the summer and fall city crews cleared settling basins and channels that drain Totem Lake of sediment and vegetation that had accumulated over the years. It also hired a wildlife control firm to capture and relocate beavers that had built dams on the channel, which flows past Totem Lake Mall and under Interstate 405 before flowing into a tributary of Juanita Creek.

The accumulated blockages had seriously decreased the channel’s capacity to carry off rain water, repeatedly flooding one northbound lane of the boulevard near the mall during heavy rainstorms.

The work dropped the level of Totem Lake in September by about three feet and revealed culverts that had been submerged for more than 10 years.

By late Tuesday morning, the heavy rain had caused the lake to rise more than two feet and re-submerged the culverts, which cross under the boulevard near the Totem Lake branch.

However, no water had reached the roadway, despite the fact the rain was heavy enough to cause minor flooding of Cochran Springs Creek across town and close the northbound lane of Lake Washington Boulevard near Northup Way and state Route 520 Tuesday evening.

“It’s holding steady,” Hupprich said. “But crews are watching it and are definitely prepared to act.”

However, the test is not over. The level of the lake and settling basin rose even more Wednesday morning, and the channel did spill some water on the west lane of the boulevard, but not enough to close it.

More work remains to be done next year to clear the channel west of I-405, and in the meantime, city crews next week will install a pump to bypass that area of blockages. Its capacity is 2 million gallons per day, and Hupprich said it should significantly ease any more flooding issues.

“The pumping will help, but if we get a week of intense rainfall, it’s not foolproof,” he said. “But we have increased the capacity of the channel. It is draining water faster. It is helping.”

The work this year is costing about $335,000, with $117,000 coming from a county flood control fund. The City Council in August authorized $218,000 from the city’s Surface Water Reserve Fund.

Addressing the flooding is not only to reduce traffic delays, but also part of the larger issue of revitalizing the entire Totem Lake area. Totem Lake itself is being examined for possible development as a park in the city’s Totem Lake Action Plan, a major focus of the City Council in recent months. See additional Patch articles on that subject here and.


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