‘It’s just unbelievable’ Everson resident says as her home and community floods
As a days-long deluge of rain brought rising river levels and water over the roadways early Monday, Nov. 15, Everson residents braced themselves for the oncoming flood.
Suzy Nguyen, who moved from California to Everson at the beginning of September and is staying with her brother while a mother-in-law suite is built, was told that while the area near their home floods, they didn’t expect water to come inside. Nguyen’s brother had been through this several times before, so out of precaution, they put sandbags down on Sunday, Nov. 14, Nguyen told The Bellingham Herald.
By 4 a.m. Monday, Nguyen’s sister-in-law woke her up to tell her they needed to evacuate.
Nguyen ran out of her room to get her cats and stepped in puddles of water. Outside their home, several feet of water ran through the driveway. Her sister-in-law called 911 and they were told to wait for a safe evacuation, Nguyen said.
Nguyen, her brother, her sister-in-law, their three cats and a dog all took shelter in the second story of their home while they waited between four to five hours for an evacuation early Monday, she said.
Eventually, an excavator came, they all climbed into the bucket and were able to be evacuated, she said. As of Monday afternoon, they were safe in a hotel in Bellingham.
“There’s no way we could have gotten out by ourselves,” Nguyen said. “I’m still kind of shocked at what happened; from fires to floods.”
Nguyen said they were in disbelief at the flooding in the area. She said while they got warnings on their phones and knew flooding was going to happen, they didn’t expect to have eight inches of water come into the first floor of their home.
“I really couldn’t believe the amount of water that was raging in through the property,” Nguyen said. “It’s just unbelievable just to see what the waters can do.”
Jessie Goette was also surprised by the amount of water around her home, she told The Herald.
Goette, who lives on Lincoln Street in Everson, said the Nooksack River and the dike for the river are right behind her home. As of Monday, Goette said they had about eight inches of water flooding their yard and the streets around their home were entirely flooded. The river later went over the dike, causing the water to get deeper. Goette said she saw several people kayaking down the road.
She and her husband prepared to flood and started moving everything off the ground — stacking their things on the couch, tables, counters and beds. They also packed to-go bags for themselves, their children and pets, she said.
Goette, who has lived in the area since 2017, said while there was flooding that occurred in 2020, “it was nothing compared to this.”
Whatcom County is in the path of a Pineapple Express, an atmospheric river of moisture coming from the South Pacific, bringing heavy rains and wind, according to previous reporting in The Herald.
The storm brought flooding, power outages, school and road closures, mudslides, damage and accidents as it swept through the area Monday.
The scope of the flooding won’t be understood until later, but local officials are comparing it to the 1990 flooding along the Nooksack River that caused $21 million in damage, according to previous reporting in The Herald.
For her part, Nguyen said she hopes that when she and her family can return to their home, that the damage is fixable and that they will be able to get back to normal. While she never lost her house in California to the wildfires, she said she had been evacuated multiple times but was lucky enough to return to a house that was still standing and undamaged. While seeing the damage from the flood is “unbelievable,” Nguyen said, she’s grateful that everyone is safe.
She said the community has been great in looking out for one another and is filled with great people.
“It’s just one benefit about us being a small community, for sure,” Nguyen said.
Goette echoed Nguyen’s sentiments, saying “we have a really close-knit community over here.” Neighbors were helping one another to sandbag and evacuate homes, she said.
She said many of the people in the surrounding neighborhoods had lived in the area their entire lives, and were debating whether to evacuate or not. She said many were feeling torn at the thought of leaving their long-time homes; a feeling some didn’t anticipate.
Goette said she urged people not to drive up and down the streets to check things out, as it causes more damage to the homes that are flooding. If you are going to drive the roads, Goette said she encouraged people to help others where they could.
“There are a lot of people who are feeling really scared,” she said. “There are a lot of people struggling right now and there are a lot of people who have shelter that they want to go to, but they can’t get to it, so offer any sort of help and support.”
