Cost of December flooding in Whatcom County looking worse than 2021
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2025 Whatcom County flooding
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Nearly two months after floodwaters devastated several rural Whatcom County communities, officials are still assessing its financial toll, and they fear it could become the area’s most costly disaster ever.
Damage to Whatcom County businesses and government infrastructure alone has surpassed $23 million, including more than $2 million in repairs that must be made to roads, according to the county Public Works Department and the Sheriff’s Office Division of Emergency Management.
Whatcom County hasn’t released a dollar estimate for private losses or the number of people who were displaced from their homes.
A total of 1,248 homes were flooded in communities along the Nooksack River, from Maple Falls to the river delta in Lummi Nation, according to a Jan. 21 report from Gov. Bob Ferguson that sought a federal disaster declaration from President Trump.
“As floodwaters rose from the Nooksack River and its tributary creeks, numerous roadways flooded, hampering response and evacuation efforts and isolating communities,” Ferguson told the president.
No deaths or serious injuries were reported in Whatcom County from flooding, landslides, strong winds and coastal waves caused by a series of moisture-laden tropical storms that hammered Western Washington in November and December 2025. December rainfall in Bellingham was 8.05 inches, well above the average 4.33 inches.
It was the third round of serious flooding along the Nooksack River in five years, including events in January-February 2020 and November 2021.
An official with the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office Division of Emergency Management told The Bellingham Herald that damage from December storms could surpass the estimated $150 million in damage from 2021.
“Though the 2021 flooding was the most impactful to that point in our county’s history, the flooding in December 2025 was even more damaging — even though the Nooksack River didn’t reach levels as high as in 2021, Emergency Management Division spokeswoman Amy Cloud said in an email Friday.
In a Jan. 23 email, Cloud said that preliminary damage assessments show that 850 homes were affected, including 141 homes that suffered heavy damage.
Two homes were swept into the river and destroyed, and a home near Kendall was destroyed by a landslide, Cloud said.
“The Human Services Division of Whatcom County’s emergency response is still active, working with the Long Term Recovery Group and North Sound Accountable Community of Health to connect impacted residents with services and discern unmet needs. At this point we don’t have confirmed dollar amounts on damages to homes and uninsured losses,” Cloud said.
Whatcom County was among the most heavily damaged areas in the state, Ferguson told Trump in his letter.
In addition to homes that were flooded, the Lummi Island ferry dock was damaged by high wind and Everson City Hall was flooded, just months after damage from flooding in 2021 had been repaired.
Spokeswoman Mandy Feutz with the Whatcom County Public Works Department told The Herald that damage to roads along amounted to $2.4 million so far.
“Dewey Road will be closed for an extended period, with costly repairs required. There are at least six other roads with one-lane damaged sections, and another dozen with slide/drainage clogging debris,” Feutz said in a December email. Cost of those repairs were still being calculated this week, she said.
“Mosquito Lake Road bridge over the middle fork had some large-scale scour. We’re doing a $250,000 emergency repair and will be adding a scour protection project to the capital program next year,” Feutz said in an email this week.
Other Whatcom County roads requiring repairs are:
- Academy Road has a slope failure that may be in excess of $50,000 to repair
- Emerson Road just outside of Everson needed a $48,000 emergency repair project
- River Road shoulder scour is nearing $40,000
- Nolte Road shoulder scour will be around $35,000
This story was originally published February 2, 2026 at 5:20 AM.
