Pacific Northwest Winter Storms Grow and Present Flooding Problems

As the winter weather worsens in the Pacific Northwest, I am continually reminded of the need for PREPAREDNESS.

A series of heavy snowfall since mid-December has left Spokane buried. We broke the 24-hour, 48-hour, 72-hour, 7-day, and 1 month records for most snowfall in a given period just to give you an idea if you reside outside of this area (Mayor Mary Verner spoke to this issue and others in a press conference on 1/7/09). We experienced roof collapses all over the city – 28 buildings so far – and then came the bad news – we would be getting 6-10 more inches of snow followed by rain. Why was that such bad news, you may ask? The added weight that the rain would add to the existing snow on structures all over the area would be a major concern for buildings and structures with flat or low-pitched roofs – we would be approaching 30lbs per square ft, dangerously high. They closed all Spokane School District #81 schools, along with numerous others 4 days already this week because of safety concerns regarding the structural soundness of the buildings. On top of those issues, flooding will start to become a real threat as the rain melts the snow buildup causing transportation, drainage, and safety issues all over the state.

That is a lot of information to take in all at once so I will get back to my main point in writing this post – you must be prepared at all times, for best to worse case scenarios! We were smack in the middle of the biggest snowfall this city has ever experienced, a state of emergency on its own, and then came the next event (more snow and rain leading to heavier snow), and the next (expected flooding all over Washington state)….

As the City of Spokane tried to raise awareness of these events through Press Releases and media, they also spoke to the theme of preparedness. They wanted people/ businesses to be aware of the possible dangers and who they could turn to/ where they could go for assistance should they need it.  

Take the time to plan … plan for the next event!  Figure out NOW what you need to do before you find yourself scrambling to figure out what your next move will be, should you experience a business disruption as the result of that event – whatever it might be; this article speaks to that point. The rest of this winter should be interesting!