SUMAS, WA (MyBellinghamNow.com) – The Sumas community is calling on Whatcom County leaders to take stronger action following the historic flooding in December.
A large group of Sumas residents, including their mayor, showed up to the public comment section of Tuesday night’s county council meeting.
The public comment lasted over two and a half hours.
Sumas Mayor Bruce Bosch sent a letter to county executive Satpal Sidhu and the council members before the meeting urging them to take immediate action to protect the community from future floods.
He expanded on his letter at the meeting, imploring the county for more collaboration with cities on how to manage the Nooksack River.
“Sumas is receiving the brunt of a non-collaborated, non-agreed upon years of changes to the design and maintenance of the [Nooksack] river,” Bosch said.
Bosch says he wants a levee built to restore capacity on the Nooksack River that’s been reduced over decades of infill.
“I’m asking for you to keep the zeal, keep things moving forward,” Bosch told council members. “Don’t stand aside and say ‘well for another day we’re gonna take care of this.’ It needs to be taken care of now.”
The council previously heard from county staff on the flood recovery effort, which they said is currently “two to three weeks ahead” from a similar time following the 2021 flooding.
The county is expected to present a full report in February or March on how to mitigate flood risk going forward.
