Tom FucoloroThe Desimone Levee has failed between S 180th and 190s Streets, triggering an emergency “GO NOW” evacuation order from King County. UPDATE 10pm: The area under the GO NOW order has been significantly reduced since the initial alert, and a stretch from the Green River to SR-167 that includes both the Interurban South and Green River Trails is under a flood alert. King County has an emergency alert map that shows exact areas under active alerts.
As KIRO 7 reported, emergency crews have so far contained flood waters to a relatively small area within a block or two of the breach, but more rain is in the forecast.
The Green River Trail sits on top of the breached levee, and footage of the breach shows a section of the trail completely missing. So needless to say, the Green River Trail is closed and will likely remain closed even after this flood event.
Do not attempt to bike through flood water even if the level is low. Not only can flows be stronger than they appear, but flood water contains sewage and other nasty industrial stuff that you don’t want to deal with.
There is no easy detour if both trails are closed. Military Road is probably the best alternative bike route between Kent and South Park that avoids the evacuation zone (from South Park: Des Moines Memorial – Military Road – S 152nd Street – 42nd Ave S – Military Road). It has painted bike lanes or decent shoulders much of the way around the flood area, but it is not a comparable experience to biking on a trail. Another option is to take your bike on the light rail, which now has stations at Kent Des Moines, Star Lake and Federal Way.
This map below from King County shows the initial emergency area, which is also a map of areas that could be at risk if flooding significantly worsens and the levee fails completely. So if you are in this area but not in the smaller GO NOW area, be on alert.
Evacuation map from King County.#SEAbikes #Seattle
Bob Svercl
