By Pepper Fisher
OLYMPIA – At Thursday afternoon’s news conference, Gov. Inslee talked about his intention to get federal disaster assistance following this week’s flooding and landslides, and his belief about what is causing all of this year’s disasters statewide.
Inslee spoke about his visit yesterday to Whatcom County and the impacts of the historic flooding they’re seeing there. He said hundreds of residents throughout that region have been displaced, many of them with nowhere to go because of that area’s already severe housing shortage. The Gov. said they’re looking into bringing in temporary housing.
He then spoke about our area.
“Clallam County is also experiencing severe impacts, which closed state highways. The lands of the Lummi Nation, the Makah, the Quileute tribes have also been impacted. Crews have been working non-stop during the daylight hours to remove debris. And I want to thank our crews who are out there working so hard in the mud. Several closures remain. The State Department of Transportation is prioritizing critical east-west links, of course. They’re moving crews and equipment from other areas to that region to help with the removal of debris.”
Inslee said state officials are now moving to the recovery aspect of the storm and doing a preliminary damage assessment to start measuring the costs of the recovery and whether our state will qualify for disaster relief.
“We don’t know yet whether that damage will rise to the threshold that will be needed to obtain federal assistance. That’s why it’s very important for people to keep records of the cost you’re incurring for damages, or the assessments of your damages in your home or businesses. And provide that information to cities to help compile this information. It’s very important in regard to our ability to obtain federal assistance.”
Inslee went on to make his case for why he is so focused on his policies to fight climate change in the northwest.
“And it has been dire this last year. We’ve had a heat dome that has taken the lives of Washingtonians, just because of excessive heat. We’ve had a drought that has reduced our agricultural production. We’ve had forest fires now that burned hundreds of thousands of acres and created conditions of smoke that was so bad that air in the Methow Valley was the most dangerous anywhere on the planet. And now we have these very severe floods that are unprecedented. All these natural disasters spell one thing. And that is the footprint of climate change, which is attacking our state.”
The Gov. said our focus needs to be on building roads that won’t wash out, to plan our utilities and sewer and water systems for future impacts, and to address carbon pollution, which he believes is causing climate change.