Cantwell Tours Snohomish County Flooding Sites

Cantwell Tours Snohomish County Flooding Sites

Cantwell lauds local officials and first responders: "Give the community the tools, and the community will respond."; "Having the best weather forecasting is key," she notes. "I think that's what we've learned here."

SNOHOMISH COUNTY, WA - Today, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and senior member of the Finance Committee, joined Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), Governor Bob Ferguson, and other elected officials for tours and briefings about flood impacts to Snohomish County.

First, they heard a briefing from first responders at Snohomish Regional Fire & Rescue Station 31 in Monroe, followed by a tour of sites affected by flooding. Then, they traveled to the Mount Vernon flood wall for a tour and briefing about flood impacts to the city.

In Mount Vernon, Sen. Cantwell gave the following remarks. Video of her remarks is available HERE.

"Every place that we've been so far, there is almost a kumbaya moment in the notion that everybody worked together, first in the preparation and planning, and then in the execution and cooperation. And so, we're hearing that everywhere," said Sen. Cantwell. "We need to communicate [about] preparedness across the nation. We do see fires, we do see floods, we do see hurricanes, we see tornadoes. It starts with that weather forecasting, having the best weather forecasting, having those people translate that days, if not weeks, in advance. And that's the key thing, is to have it weeks in advance, if you can, and then everybody else goes into action."

"And I think that's what we've learned here. Give the community the tools, and the community will respond."

A transcript of Sen. Cantwell's full remarks is available HERE. Photos of both tours are available HERE.

Yesterday, Sen. Cantwell joined Washington state Governor Bob Ferguson for a press conference following a briefing about the impact of flooding in King County.

On Thursday, Sen. Cantwell joined Washington state's entire Congressional delegation in a letter to President Donald Trump urging him to approve Governor Ferguson's request for an expedited Emergency Declaration for the storms and flooding affecting residents statewide. Yesterday, after President Trump approved the declaration, Sen. Cantwell released this statement:

"Thank you for the fast emergency declaration! Thank you for helping respond to our infrastructure needs. Thank you for supporting our first responders. Thank you!"

An expedited Emergency Declaration will provide FEMA resources for Benton, Chelan, Clallam, Grays Harbor, Jefferson, King, Kittitas, Lewis, Mason, Pierce, Skagit, Snohomish, Thurston, Wahkiakum, Whatcom, and Yakima counties, in addition to the Samish Indian Nation and Tribal nations within the affected counties. This includes federal funding and assets to remove debris and provide medical care, transportation assistance, and search and rescue services.

Sen. Cantwell is continuing to work with the National Weather Service, the U.S. Coast Guard, FEMA, the Small Business Administration, the U.S. Department of Transportation, the Army Corps of Engineers, and other federal agencies to ensure our communities have emergency management resources and will be able to recover.