King County's Flood Warning Center poised for duty as winter weather arrives

When winter storms pour in and rivers threaten to overtop their banks, King County's Flood Warning Center kicks into action to provide citizens and property owners the information they need to deal with river flooding and its consequences.

Wet weather and flood season always have King County's Department of Natural Resources and Parks' (DNRP) staff stepping up monitoring of local rivers. If rivers rise to certain levels, the department opens its Flood Warning Center to provide round-the-clock coordination of weather and river flooding information. The center is designed to give citizens at least two hours warning to prepare for possible serious flooding. And it works in tandem with the county's Road Services Division, to give citizens up-to-date information about road closures.

The King County Flood Warning Center has been in operation for more than four decades providing critical flood warning information to county residents and property owners. The center helped coordinate response through eight previous Presidential declared flood disasters, and helped provide information that resulted in millions of dollars in federal and state flood relief grants to King County.

The Flood Warning Center provides a recorded message (206-296-8200 or 1-800-945-9263) updated each hour that describes conditions on King County's major rivers during a flood. Residents can speak directly to Flood Warning Center personnel via the Flood Center Hotline (206-296-4535 or 1-800-768-7932). The Center sends out flood patrol teams to inspect levees, recent repairs to flood protection projects, reported trouble spots, or problems called in by citizens.

King County provides funding for the U.S. Geological Service river monitoring system. Real time river flow and stage data is available to anyone who logs onto the Department's Web site at: www.kingcounty.gov/flood.

Operation of the center is based on a four-phase warning system with Phase Four being the most serious and potentially dangerous to people and property. Phases are issued independently for each of the county's major rivers including the Snoqualmie, Tolt, Cedar, Green and White Rivers. A four-phase warning system is also established for Issaquah Creek.

Phase One means county staff members are alerted and preparations are made to open the Flood Warning Center. A Phase Two alert usually involves lowland flooding and closure of roads and is the level at which the center is activated. Phase Three involves significant flooding that begins to become more of a threat because of depth and velocity of the water, and includes the deployment of field personnel to conduct flood patrols. A Phase Four alert brings the possibility of heavy and very dangerous flood conditions.

The Flood Warning Center works closely with the National Weather Service to obtain forecast information used by the weather service to make flood predictions. It works in tandem with the King County Roads Services Division, which has crews out posting road closures as water covers roadways. Road crews are also used to construct emergency repairs to flood protection facilities when high water threatens their viability.

The center also coordinates with the City of Seattle and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which operate dams on county rivers. County DNRP and Roads communications staff work together to keep the media informed of river and road conditions. The center also works closely with the King County Regional Communications and Emergency Coordination Center during major flooding conditions. The Flood Warning Center is an important element of King County's Floodplain Management Program and its Flood Hazard Management Plan.

Floods in the King County region most commonly occur from November through February during periods of heavy rainfall or rapid snowmelt. Residents should keep informed of changing river conditions and make early preparations in case of major river flooding.