KING COUNTY, Wash. — As the skies cleared Sunday and Monday after days of torrential rain, the damage the sun revealed darkened the moods of people caught in the path of historically powerful eastside floods.
"My car is a total loss, and insurance won't touch it," said the owner of a late model BMW which was among several submerged in the floods last Thursday, after he parked his car in front of his workplace on Gilman Blvd. in Issaquah.
The owner, who asked not to be identified, said a scrapyard offered him $60 for the car, after he paid $200 for the tow.
Much of the water which turned Issaquah Creek and it's tributaries into raging rivers for two straight days drained into Lake Sammamish, which caused water levels to soar to historic levels, and damaged shoreline homes.
"In the last 40 years, we haven't seen anything like this," said Vern Lindquist, who has lived on the lake since the 1960s.
"It was bringing the water in here and hitting the windows and... it's just been incredible," said Lizanne Madgett, whose lakeside deck was still underwater Monday.
Docks from Issaquah to Redmond were also underwater, as USGS gauges indicated lake levels to rise more than four feet above what they were in December. A search revealed the same gauges suggest the lake did reach a higher level in 1951.
"The water in our crawl space was up to a point where it would have been 18-20 inches deep," said Bobby Witty, who was pulling damaged carpet and anything else soaked by the floods.
“This place was designed to withstand a 50-100-year event,” Witty said. As for the forecast for more rain in the coming days? “We’re bracing for it,” he said.
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