On behalf of the Sudden Valley Community Association Board, I would like to give a huge thank you to all the emergency responders, various public sector employees, Sudden Valley staff, and all other volunteers who put themselves in potential harm’s way or dedicated their time to aide those in need, worked to protect critical public and private infrastructure, and coordinated the tremendous efforts of so many.
The recent flood event is one we all hope to never experience in our lifetimes. Our entire Whatcom County community along with our Skagit County and Canadian neighbors have been ravaged by what may be the largest flood event on record in our respective regions. We have witnessed entire towns and vast regions be overtaken with flood waters from many of the creeks and rivers in our various watersheds. These are people’s homes, businesses, and livelihoods being impacted, and it is truly devastating to see the scale of destruction and displacement experienced by so many of our neighbors. My condolences to everyone in the greater region who has dealt with or is still dealing with those impacts.
Our Sudden Valley community was not immune to the rage that mother nature unleashed during this major flood event. We watched landslides damage roadways, creeks overtopping their banks into neighbor’s homes, culverts fail from raging creeks, and stormwater runoff impacting community infrastructure along with member’s homes. While the scale of our destruction may pale in comparison to that of the entire region, it in no way minimizes the fact that people were negatively impacted, and families suffered traumas in what should be their safe spaces. My heart goes out to all our neighbors who have been impacted by this catastrophic event.
We are especially grateful to our maintenance and turf care crews, who spent multiple days doing their best to protect Association infrastructure and help community members in need. It’s a difficult task to step into the environment that unfolded over the last several days. Our crews were out delivering sandbags, cleaning up debris flows, unclogging culverts, mitigating severe erosion, and generally dealing with the massive amounts of rainfall that we received over the last several days.
Joining us in our community efforts were volunteers throughout our SVCA Community. We appreciate your assistance and offers of assistance. Thank you to all those who assisted with sand bagging in the pouring rain and to CTK Pastor Jason Manning with other volunteers who assisted with providing a safe space in our Dance Barn to those who were impacted by flooding. We are grateful for the additional sandbags provided by Whatcom County, and the ongoing assistance and support of Chief Toppel of the South Whatcom Fire Authority.
Please stay safe and don’t put yourself in risky situations as rescue resources are still stretched thin at this time. Please send good thoughts or prayers to all those who have already been impacted or are still in harm’s way and ask that mother nature provide us a prolonged break from the torrential rains that have already devastated our communities. Finally, this is a difficult time for many of our fellow western Washington and Canadian residents so please consider ways you can be of assistance to those in need from donating time, resources, shelter, or food.
AJ Tischleder
President, Sudden Valley Community Association