Serving Sedro-Woolley
Groundwater & Basement Water Intrusion in Sedro-Woolley, WA
Basement seepage, failed sumps, and hydrostatic pressure against the foundation are extracted and dried, and the path from the ground is identified so the loss does not repeat. Groundwater and basement seepage are extracted and dried only after the path from the soil is identified — a wall, a slab, a drain, or a failed sump. Drying the interior without stopping that path returns the same water to the same floor.
Frequently asked questions
The dikes have held for a long time.
They have, and the more common problem is not the dike failing but the water that falls behind it. Ground inside the dikes is below the river in flood, so local rainfall cannot drain out by gravity and has to be pumped. Properties can take water in a storm where the river never came close to overtopping anything.
What is an atmospheric river in practical terms?
A narrow band of very wet air that keeps arriving from the same direction for a day or more. Instead of a storm passing through, the same conditions repeat over the catchment for an extended period, so the totals accumulate and the ground never recovers between. It is duration rather than intensity that makes these events damaging here.
Does mountain snow matter to a town on the valley floor?
It matters a great deal in the warm storms. A November system arriving mild can rain onto existing snowpack at elevation, which releases stored water at the same time the rain itself is running off. The river then rises further and faster than the rainfall alone would explain.
This FAQ belongs to the Sedro-Woolley page; it is repeated here.