Duvall home still threatened weeks after collapse of beaver dam
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DUVALL, Wash. - The aftermath of a collapsed beaver dam is still making life miserable for one King County family as weeks of continuous rain threaten to flood them out.
"It is a war zone," says homeowner Bob Siko.
His family home is surrounded by mud - and still in harm's way - three weeks after a beaver dam collapsed about a mile upstream, releasing a wall of water, logs and rock that narrowly missed his home.
"I really don't feel we don't have any options except to move out of the house temporarily," he says.
Twice in the past week, heavy rains washed down more debris - plugging up the culvert that's supposed to channel all that water under the road.
"There's not a lot of room between the gravel and the culvert," he says.
Friends helped build an emergency sandbag dike around the house Friday night when it looked like the stream would flood. And last week, the county built a wall to help divert the mess.
"Is it enough to save the house? I hope it is," says Siko.
Every time it rains he and his family have to worry - will the stream run over the bank? Or breach the wall the county built? And possibly breach the last line of defense between the water and the house - the wall he and his volunteers built.
A King County engineer says that is unlikely. He's working on a plan to extend the wall and design other measures to allow water to flow where it won't threaten the house or the road, and says the county could do more work on the property next week.
Meanwhile, Siko, his wife and four boys are living in a motor home on a relative's property nearby. It's close enough to mobilize when the next storm comes.
"We're going to do everything we can to save the house," he says.
"It is a war zone," says homeowner Bob Siko.
His family home is surrounded by mud - and still in harm's way - three weeks after a beaver dam collapsed about a mile upstream, releasing a wall of water, logs and rock that narrowly missed his home.
"I really don't feel we don't have any options except to move out of the house temporarily," he says.
Twice in the past week, heavy rains washed down more debris - plugging up the culvert that's supposed to channel all that water under the road.
"There's not a lot of room between the gravel and the culvert," he says.
Friends helped build an emergency sandbag dike around the house Friday night when it looked like the stream would flood. And last week, the county built a wall to help divert the mess.
"Is it enough to save the house? I hope it is," says Siko.
Every time it rains he and his family have to worry - will the stream run over the bank? Or breach the wall the county built? And possibly breach the last line of defense between the water and the house - the wall he and his volunteers built.
A King County engineer says that is unlikely. He's working on a plan to extend the wall and design other measures to allow water to flow where it won't threaten the house or the road, and says the county could do more work on the property next week.
Meanwhile, Siko, his wife and four boys are living in a motor home on a relative's property nearby. It's close enough to mobilize when the next storm comes.
"We're going to do everything we can to save the house," he says.
The fact that the county or state knew of the beaver dam and did NOTHING to ensure the property owner maintained it or demolished it before the so-called "pond" behind it grew to gargantuan proportions sounds like a cop-out. Beaver dams are usually considered more destructive than manageable and why an property owner would have allowed it to go on unabated is beyond me. Now we're seeing how a home that has survived for decades in an essentially dry gully is threatened, but moreover, the roads and surrounding area has been inundated by water that would NOT have been a problem had the county done its job of management and ensuring the upstream owners were responsible. It will likely cost taxpayers millions to fix the problem. I hope the Sikos survive this w/out losing everything they own, but I would bet they end up either moving the house or abandoning it.
I would get a permit for a new beaver dam and a contract to maintain it. :)
Those beavers are great builders. Even though their dam failed, it had lasted years longer than the gargoyles bridge will. Â
id pay money to put the sound of running water in my home, if this house was anchored and had jet skis it would be a dream house, i know not funny. i wish them the best of luck ! nice home.
You can not have it both ways... If you want to protect evey little critter out there the houses will be in the way once and a while. Souds like the home owner needs to get out there with a shovel and put insome work or come up with the money to pay some ne else to the work.
Sounds like you have no idea what you are talking about. This home was built in 1906 long before the beavers moved in upstream and built the dam. The home owner has moved over 150 dump truck loads of silt from his yard that flowed there from upstream. He and an army of volunteers have been out there with shovels putting in a lot of work. Your assumption that hasnât been happening is an insult to all those that have put in their time.
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This isnât just about one personâs home, which would be tragic enough, but it is also about an entire housing community that lives up the hill from this location and is dependent on the road that is being threatened not to mention that if this isnât address it also risks impacting Highway 203 just south of Duvall.
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You can have it both ways, both wilderness management and home ownership but the key word is management, which needs to include trapping/hunting, and land/water maintenance. If left unchecked then failures like this will happen and the cleanup will be considerably more costly than the management.
There have probably been beavers in that area for thousands of years then someone clears some land, builds a home next to a stream in an outlying area and events like this happen. Not much different than people who build houses at the edge of a forest then complain about the bears coming into their yard.
FYI: This home was built in 1906.