Bellingham OKs emergency measure after assessing damage in wake of flooding
Bellingham suffered significant damage from last week’s storms, including forcing the closure of a popular city attraction and the blocking of a major street in two locations.
City Council members unanimously approved an emergency declaration so that the Parks, Public Works and other city departments can spend money quickly on storm-related repairs.
“This was a significant event and while we did dodge the worst of it, there were impacts. This is a challenging situation,” Public Works Director Joel Pfundt told the council in a committee meeting Monday.
Pfundt said that more information would be provided once engineers had time to examine damage to Hannegan Road north of Bakerview Road and Woburn Street north of Lakeway Drive.
Hannegan and Woburn are the same street, with different names, and both are major north-south commuter routes. Hannegan carries 13,500 cars and trucks daily north of Bakerview.
For now:
- Little Squalicum Pier is closed indefinitely because the storm opened sinkholes that undermined its supports.
- Hannegan Road is closed indefinitely between Bakerview Road and Smith Road because the raging Baker Creek undermined the road bed.
- Woburn Street is closed indefinitely north of Lakeway Drive near Cemetery Creek.
Damage was still being assessed, Pfundt said.
A temporary fix was possible for Hannegan Road, but Pfundt did not give a cost estimate or timeline for repair.
Nicole Oliver, director of the Parks and Recreation Department said the storm damaged Little Squalicum Pier, which opened to the public in April. Oliver said parks officials were aware of possible damage from severe storms and already had been working on a solution.
“This is what we expected would happen,” Oliver told the City Council.
