SEA Program Home > Floods Home

What Does Ecology Do During A Flood?

Ecology’s Shorelands and Environmental Assistance Program provides two main kinds of assistance during a flood:

Ecology floodplain specialists do inspections by air and by the road to conduct damage assessments.

• Floodplain experts at Ecology’s headquarters and in its regional offices across Washington work closely with local, state and federal officials to assess flood damage.
  
  When flooding starts, floodplain staff often are asked to work in the state Emergency Operations Center to collect damage and flood information and recommend the placement of flood-response equipment and materials at locations around the state.
  
  Floodplain specialists also work with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and local emergency management officials to assess flood maps, storm damage, and flood control structures such as dikes and levees — all as a way to help prepare requests for federal and state flood disaster assistance.
  
  For more information, see the focus sheet on The Floodplain Management Assistance Program.
  
  Conservation Corps squad shovels snow to prevent roof collapse.
• Ecology’s Washington Conservation Corps (WCC) is part of the larger AmeriCorps Program and made up of 12-member crews all between 18 and 24 years of age.
  
  During the 2009 flood incident, all 150 WCC crew members were deployed in different areas across the state in an emergency capacity. Some stacked sandbags to keep rising waters out of homes, helped disabled residents get medical attention, cleaned out homes and businesses, set up emergency shelters, shoveled snow from endangered roofs, and removed downed trees and other debris that posed an immediate threat to life and property. At one point, a WCC team sent to help residents in Randle were cut off by rising flood waters. In spite of the peril, they continued to give aid to the community.

Other Ecology responders:

Spill team responds to incidents such as these farm-chemical containers carried away by flood waters.

• The Spill Prevention, Preparedness, and Response Program tracks and helps clean up oil spills and dispose of abandoned containers that may hold hazardous materials such as pesticides, fertilizers, petroleum products, toxic metals and other poisonous substances that pose an immediate threat to public health and the environment.
  
  Ecology’s responders are trained to identify and handle dangerous chemicals. When citizens see evidence of a spill, or have abandoned tanks or suspicious containers on their property, they are asked to contact Ecology to help them clean up the materials. Spill Responders often are first on the scene after a flood incident – and typically do assessments by air and by road.
• The Hazardous Waste and Toxics Reduction program tracks and assists with potential flood-related problems for businesses it regulates due to the hazardous waste they produce.
  
  Floods pose special problems to homes and businesses with hazardous materials. See Be Ready for a Flood - Manage Your Hazardous Materials for information on preparing for floods, cleaning up afterwards, and disposing of dangerous waste.
  
  Ecology maintains a list of businesses that produce a large amount of hazardous waste and the agency contacts those in the flood-affected areas and helps with accumulated debris after the storm.
  
  A flooded gas station means possible leakage from an underground storage tank.
• The Toxics Cleanup Program tracks potential problems with underground storage tanks, particularly at gas stations and fueling stations. Sometimes flood waters can cause underground storage tanks to break to the surface — or water can inundate fuel tanks, most of which contain gasoline, diesel fuel and other petroleum products.
  
  Ecology’s underground storage tank experts help businesses locate contractors who can pump out water or repair damaged tanks.
  
• Dam Safety Office engineers monitor potential flood-related problems with the state’s 900 regulated, non-hydropower generating dams. In some cases, local dam owners and operators are ordered to lower water levels to reduce the pressure behind a dam to protect human life or property and environmental health.
• The Air Quality program gives guidance to communities and residents who want to burn debris. Burning of flood and storm debris is allowed under very specific conditions and only with a permit.
  
  > Learn more about the dangers of outdoor burning.
• Ecology’s Water Quality Program experts monitor reports from state wastewater treatment plants impacted by flood waters and stormwater runoffs. Water Quality specialists work with treatment plant operators to keep the facilities functioning – and do all they can to provide technical assistance to try to keep as little untreated wastewater as possible from entering local waterways.
• The Water Resources program works with the Department of Health to pinpoint communities where drinking water is contaminated by flood waters.
• After floods and storms, communities, businesses, and homeowners often must cope with damaged dwellings, downed trees, and potential problems handling solid waste when roads and rail lines are interrupted. Ecology’s specialists in the Waste 2 Resources program work with local communities and businesses to help find solutions to managing and disposing of non-hazardous debris in ways that are environmentally safe during emergencies.
  
  >  See more information about safely disposing of sand from used sandbags.
  
  For example, the December 2007 flood severely damaged swaths of Lewis and Grays Harbor counties. Waste 2 Resources staff helped find state grants to fund non-burning alternatives for about 200 manufactured homes destroyed by the flood. They also worked with local companies to chip downed trees, and find temporary storage for solid waste at local sanitary landfills.
  
  Unfortunately, farmers also lose livestock in floods. Animal carcasses need to be disposed safely to prevent illness or disease.
  
  Waste 2 Resources experts also work with private solid-waste disposal companies and local governments to simplify the transport and disposal of dead animals.

View photos from the January 2009 flood event in Western Washington.