Carnation citizens have faced a series of panic-inducing alarms after SPU's system for the Tolt Dam falsely sounded eight times.
Imagine going about your day when an emergency alarm goes off, alerting you that you have only 45 minutes to evacuate before your house is flooded, so you grab what you can and get to safety. Now imagine that happening eight times in four years — but they are all false alarms.If the dam ever broke it would “cause catastrophic damage to Carnation and force city-wide evacuation,” a news release states from the City of Carnation on Wednesday.
Last August, the Carnation City Council declared a State of Emergency after a false alarm went off. Carnation leaders were and still are concerned about SPU’s ability to operate the dam.“Carnation was incorporated in 1912, and Seattle built its dam in 1964. Seattle’s Dam puts all our lives and property at risk,” said City Manager Ana Cortez in the news release. “The city gets no benefit from it. We get no water from it. We get no revenue from it. Yet we have 100% of the risk.
“When the dam is supposedly breached we have 35 to 45 minutes to get out of town and out of the valley and you should grab whatever’s important to you like your children, your pets,” Simon said.
SPU staff continue to investigate what happened yesterday morning. After residents and officials began reporting what they heard shortly after 10 a.m., SPU activated its emergency response plan with its emergency partners. We verified the dam was safe and immediately launched an investigation. We continue to monitor the dam 24/7 as we do 365 days a year.
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