How could a woman drown in her own basement?
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It's the one story we all remember from that terrible rain storm in late December.
Kate Fleming drowned in her own home when floodwater trapped her in her basement recording studio. That's where she narrated audio books for a living.
The storm might have been a scene from one of the audio books Fleming narrated for a living.
"Confronting a storm is like fighting God," Kate is heard reading on one of her recordings. "All the powers in the universe seem to be against you."
Her fictional words seem eerily prophetic now that we know what happened when the rain came -- when it seemed as if Heaven's dam burst.
Floodwater punched a hole in the foundation of Fleming's Madison Valley home. The rushing water trapped Fleming in her basement recording studio.
"Somebody's dying," a 911 caller is heard saying on the tape.
"And why is somebody dying?" the dispatcher asked.
"We can't get her out of the basement," the caller said. "She's going to drown."
For the first time, Fleming's partner Charlene Strong took us inside the home they shared for nine years.
"I was extremely frantic," Charlene said. "Kate just kept saying to me, 'stay calm stay calm and get me out.' I ran down these stairs."
Charlene tried to save Kate from the rising water. "You can see the water line," she said, pointing to the wall.
The muddy water was chest high. Charlene tried to pull the pins out of the hinges on the studio door. She got two, but the water was too deep. She dove under, but couldn't get the third.
Charlene grabbed a kitchen knife and tried to cut through the wall. Then the water went over her head.
"I don't know how I got out," she said.
Upstairs in the bedroom came a final, futile attempt. Charlene tried to kick through the floor vent.
"I was thinking if I could push through somehow and maybe get her head if she was near there, you know, I could pull her head up and hold her above water," Charlene said. "I couldn't get her out."
Firefighters finally reached Kate by cutting through the bedroom floor. She'd been underwater 20 minutes.
At the hospital, Charlene had only three minutes alone with Kate. "So I held her hand and I talked to her and I rubbed her feet," she said.
Just before Kate slipped away, Charlene slipped their wedding ring from her finger.
"I don't know how I got out. I don't know why she had to die," she said.
And with her grief came the questions. How could this happen?
Seattle Public Utilities has hired an outside firm to investigate.
"We need to find the answer to what caused the flooding in her house," said Linda DeBolt with Seattle Public Utilities.
The search for answers is centered on East Madison, two blocks above the Fleming home. That's where nearly an inch of rain fell in less than an hour, and where witnesses say the storm drains backed up.
"We didn't know what to do. We were actually scared," said Theodor Lewis, a witness.
Lewis says the water was to his knees. He watched it jump the 9-inch curb and pour under the fence.
"This is the only place the water was escaping," he said.
The water was escaping down the embankment where it flattened a private retaining wall. Then it flowed down the street and around the corner, where it buckled the foundation and flooded Fleming's basement.
"We should feel safe in our homes," Charlene said. "And if that area wasn't safe then the city should have done something about it, and they should have told us about the dangers.
"I don't know where I'm going from here. I have a house I can't live in, I have a partner who's dead. And I will forever wonder if there was something I could have done to save her."
The top engineering firm hired by the city will not only look into what happened to Kate Fleming, but also whether her Madison Valley neighborhood could be at risk for future flooding.
In the meantime, Charlene cannot live in the house they shared. She says her insurance company is refusing to pay for the damage.
Kate Fleming drowned in her own home when floodwater trapped her in her basement recording studio. That's where she narrated audio books for a living.
The storm might have been a scene from one of the audio books Fleming narrated for a living.
"Confronting a storm is like fighting God," Kate is heard reading on one of her recordings. "All the powers in the universe seem to be against you."
Her fictional words seem eerily prophetic now that we know what happened when the rain came -- when it seemed as if Heaven's dam burst.
Floodwater punched a hole in the foundation of Fleming's Madison Valley home. The rushing water trapped Fleming in her basement recording studio.
"Somebody's dying," a 911 caller is heard saying on the tape.
"And why is somebody dying?" the dispatcher asked.
"We can't get her out of the basement," the caller said. "She's going to drown."
For the first time, Fleming's partner Charlene Strong took us inside the home they shared for nine years.
"I was extremely frantic," Charlene said. "Kate just kept saying to me, 'stay calm stay calm and get me out.' I ran down these stairs."
Charlene tried to save Kate from the rising water. "You can see the water line," she said, pointing to the wall.
The muddy water was chest high. Charlene tried to pull the pins out of the hinges on the studio door. She got two, but the water was too deep. She dove under, but couldn't get the third.
Charlene grabbed a kitchen knife and tried to cut through the wall. Then the water went over her head.
"I don't know how I got out," she said.
Upstairs in the bedroom came a final, futile attempt. Charlene tried to kick through the floor vent.
"I was thinking if I could push through somehow and maybe get her head if she was near there, you know, I could pull her head up and hold her above water," Charlene said. "I couldn't get her out."
Firefighters finally reached Kate by cutting through the bedroom floor. She'd been underwater 20 minutes.
At the hospital, Charlene had only three minutes alone with Kate. "So I held her hand and I talked to her and I rubbed her feet," she said.
Just before Kate slipped away, Charlene slipped their wedding ring from her finger.
"I don't know how I got out. I don't know why she had to die," she said.
And with her grief came the questions. How could this happen?
Seattle Public Utilities has hired an outside firm to investigate.
"We need to find the answer to what caused the flooding in her house," said Linda DeBolt with Seattle Public Utilities.
The search for answers is centered on East Madison, two blocks above the Fleming home. That's where nearly an inch of rain fell in less than an hour, and where witnesses say the storm drains backed up.
"We didn't know what to do. We were actually scared," said Theodor Lewis, a witness.
Lewis says the water was to his knees. He watched it jump the 9-inch curb and pour under the fence.
"This is the only place the water was escaping," he said.
The water was escaping down the embankment where it flattened a private retaining wall. Then it flowed down the street and around the corner, where it buckled the foundation and flooded Fleming's basement.
"We should feel safe in our homes," Charlene said. "And if that area wasn't safe then the city should have done something about it, and they should have told us about the dangers.
"I don't know where I'm going from here. I have a house I can't live in, I have a partner who's dead. And I will forever wonder if there was something I could have done to save her."
The top engineering firm hired by the city will not only look into what happened to Kate Fleming, but also whether her Madison Valley neighborhood could be at risk for future flooding.
In the meantime, Charlene cannot live in the house they shared. She says her insurance company is refusing to pay for the damage.
