While residents were devastated by flooding in many parts of Western Washington, those in Seattle escaped the past week’s weather event largely unscathed.
For the most part, that is thanks to Seattle’s unique geographic landscape and lack of major rivers throughout most of the city, National Weather Service meteorologist Kayla Mazurkiewicz said.
While communities a mere 20 miles away from the city were soaked by a series of atmospheric rivers, Seattle experienced dramatically less rainfall and had only a few localized road floods.
“It has to do a lot with Seattle’s geographical area,” Mazurkiewicz said Wednesday. “It rained, but it didn’t bring as much as it did in the Cascades.“
The Duwamish River is restricted to a smaller part of the city and typically floods due to high tides.
Many areas in the city are elevated on hillsides. Farther south, in areas like Kent and Auburn, dam infrastructure makes South King County more susceptible to flooding.
Areas like Skagit County are largely flat and unobstructed, and with the Skagit River flowing downstream, water from the Cascades flowed into the area: “It just kept going and going and going,” Mazurkiewicz said.
“Seattle is pretty sheltered,” Mazurkiewicz said. “Most of the hazards we have (in Washington) don’t affect Seattle as much.”
Washington as a whole was devastated by the flooding. Thousands were forced to evacuate their homes, many of which sustained significant damage from water. Farms up and down the Interstate 5 corridor sustained serious damage, and one man drowned after he drove into a flooded roadway.