Sunday update: Yakima River Flooding

BCES has posted an amazing collection of aerial photos from the Yakima River flooding, which includes the shot at right of Van Giesen & Kingston Rd. I was out and about on Saturday at around 2-3 pm, and the water wasn’t nearly this high. It must’ve risen a good 3 feet after I called it a day and went home.

Anyway, here’s the Sunday afternoon update from BCES:

As of Sunday afternoon at 4:30 p.m., the Yakima River as measured in the Kiona-Benton City area in Benton County has receded to about 13.4 feet. Waters are continuing to fall slowly and are expected to fall below flood stage (13 feet) late Sunday night or early Monday morning.

Even though waters crested in the Benton City area at about 6:15 p.m. Friday, residents downstream did not see the crest until the early morning hours on Saturday. It takes nearly 10-12 hours for those levels to reach the West Richland area.

During the coming week, there will be a focus on assessing property damage in the county. Starting Monday, Benton County Emergency Services will provide forms on its web site that local residents and business can use to report personal property damage. Residents should also advise their insurance agents of property damage.

Continuing updates are available on the Benton County Emergency Services website at www.bces.wa.gov.

The Benton-Franklin Health District is also encouraging local folks who rely on wells for their water to make sure the water isn’t contaminated because of the flooding. BFHD says wells could be suspect if flood waters came within 100 feet of the well.

For information about wells and flood water, and how to make sure your water source is safe, you can download this PDF from the BFHD web site.

10:00 pm Update: Just got this in from BCES:

According to the National Weather Service, the Yakima River as measured near Benton City receded below flood stage at about 6 p.m. Sunday evening. Downstream locations in West Richland and Richland continue to recede and should fall below flood stage (13 feet) within the next few hours.

As of 8:30 p.m. the level measured near Benton City was 12.5 feet.

That’s good news. Looks like tomorrow begins the assessment of damage, not to mention the repair and cleanup.

Thank you for reading this article on the West Richland Real Estate Blog. If you arrived here looking for specific real estate information, or would like to speak with a friendly, fun, professional, and low-pressure real estate agent, please contact Cari via her web site or call her directly at 509 – 430 – 5342 and she’ll be glad to help. Thanks again for visiting!