SKAGIT COUNTY, Wash. — A major cleanup operation is underway in the town of Big Lake following a mudslide.
It all started when a beaver dam broke over the weekend and sent mud and water crashing into some homes as the rain has been continuous for days.
Neighbors said it all happened within minutes and without any warning.
KIRO 7 found out that it could be weeks before things get back to normal.
“It wrecked my dock. I don’t have a beach left. I used to have a nice sandy beach. It’s gone,” said Mitch Roberts.
Roberts’ home security cameras caught the crisis as it happened and it only took seconds before much of his property was engulfed in a muddy mess.
“What do you do? It was just panic. There’s nothing you can do when water’s coming through your house.”
Roberts and dozens of his neighbors are still cleaning up the mess from the slide and days of added rain.
“My neighbor down there is 80 years old and I had about ten 15-year-olds helping dig them out because everyone was here digging me out. It’s been crazy.”
Across from Roberts’ home, Karen Hickman was nearly trapped by an incoming torrent of mud.
“The roar of the water was just mind-boggling,” Hickman told KIRO 7′s Ryan Simms.
Hickman had gotten stuck in her house until her son-in-law came to help.
Although no one was hurt, the damage was definitely felt by the residents.
“This is what was everywhere around here: This gooey, soupy, mud,” Roberts told Simms.
And given that much of the damage happened to people’s private property, county workers said there is not much they can do to help.
The rain continued to fall Thursday and county crews helped by dropping sandbags for neighbors as a precaution.
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