The white picket fence at Gina Gilmore's former house is slowly disappearing.
Each time she visits the property, she notices another section is mysteriously missing, perhaps on its way to a new home as part of twisted domestic fantasy that, ironically, overlooks every sliver of the neighborly symbolism traditionally engrained in this, the most hospitable of barriers.
Of course, it's no longer Gilmore's problem.
She doesn't own the house anymore. That's because picket fences can't fend off cascading sewage or surging storm water.
Gilmore's was one of four flood-damaged homes that the city bought, along with an adjoining vacant lot, in Madison Valley on March 31, after a deluge last summer literally blew the doors off some houses, sending residents scurrying for higher ground.
The nightmare began Aug. 22, 2004, when a torrential rainstorm combined with an inadequate drainage system flooded the area around 30th Avenue East and East John Street.
Gilmore's home, which she was renting out at the time, was among the 30 in the area that sustained significant flood damage.
"My tenant called at 5 a.m.," said Gilmore, who lives just a few blocks from her old rental property. "And when we got there the basement looked like a lake."
Despite a slow response from the city to the initial emergency, city officials accepted responsibility for the flood.
Meanwhile, neighbors in the area banded together to create the Madison Valley Victims Association (MAVVA) in September. The group was formed to work with city officials on issues of compensation and to find solutions to prevent future flooding.
Nearly 10 months later, those solutions are starting to take shape.
Analyzing the problem
MAVVA and Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) are working together with the assistance of Sylvia Cavazos, who acts as communications liaison between the community and SPU.
Additionally, the two groups created an engineering subcommittee made up of six local residents, and SPU utilities manager Tracy De La Torre-Evans, who, along with fellow SPU employee Steve Resnick, is overseeing the engineering team.
Both city employees and independent engineers will work to carry out a four-phase plan that includes a precipitation and storm analysis, a basin study, a storm-water tank analysis and, ultimately, a decision on what to do with the now-uninhabitable land bought by the city.
Among those involved in the project are rainfall specialists RH2 and engineering and consulting company MGS, both Washington-based.
Black & Veatch, an international firm that specializes in infrastructure development for water and energy purposes, also has been hired.
According to a presentation by independent engineer John Frech at MAVVA's most recent meeting, held May 18 at nearby Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School, "The precipitation and storm analysis had been drafted and the basin analysis had been scoped and was scheduled to be completed by the end of the month."
Frech was brought in by the city on behalf of residents to make sure things move along smoothly.
"My job is to interpret what we find to the community," Frech said. "I'm also here to review the engineering work for quality assurance and make sure the proper steps are taken to solve this problem."
Those steps could be tricky, which is why the city is taking its time.
Remedying the situation
According to SPU officials, the cause of the flooding is an outdated 390,000-gallon tank that was installed underneath John Street in the 1970s. For ecological reasons, the tank was designed to collect both sewage and storm water and regulate the amount of flow that drains out of the area.
Unfortunately, the tank wasn't able to handle the capacity of water that the record storm on Aug. 22 produced, resulting in the floods that caused up to 5 feet of water that enveloped the surrounding street and Gilmore's basement.
Steps were soon taken to remedy the situation.
In September, as an interim solution, SPU installed plates in the storm-water pipes to prevent tank flooding, but the streets still flood, meaning that residents are continually forced to deal with excess water after rain storms. Because of this, time is clearly a factor.
Unfortunately, though, no work can be done until the results of the various analyses are completed and a permanent solution can be implemented.
At that point, the decision will be made about what to do with the city's newly acquired property.
Regardless of what the land ultimately becomes, funding for the project has already been approved as part of the city's 2006 budget.
"People have talked about a p-patch, a greenspace or a park," said Gavin Gray, who lives across the street from Gilmore's old house and, like her, is a member of the engineering subcommittee. "But all of the ideas have potential consequences. Parks can attract crime and drugs. Even a pond, which was suggested, would have to be lined, and there is now concern about West Nile [virus] around open water."
SPU officials insisted that any decision on the future of the land, however, will be made in conjunction with MAVVA and the community, which makes residents like Gilmore more willing to forgive the city's earlier shortcomings.
"It took the city almost six hours to respond to the problem and begin pumping the water out of here," she said of the Aug. 22 flood. "But despite that, they've accepted responsibility. It's been an unbelievable hardship, but we're confident they're making their best effort to move things forward."
According to Gilmore, that effort has included a revamping of the city's emergency-response teams to avoid future problems like those faced by the Madison Valley residents following their initial flooding disaster.
No damper on enthusiasm
Still, even after all the difficulties, for Gilmore, it's the kind of neighborhood where you'd want to move to and maybe even build a picket fence. After all, her fence was fine until the rain moved in, and she's confident the neighborhood will recover. Not even a river of sewage could put a damper on her enthusiasm for this community's resolve.
"We're hoping that something can be gained from our loss," she said. "This is such a wonderful, inner-city area, almost like a 'Leave it to Beaver' kind of neighborhood. It's just a great place to live."[[In-content Ad]]
