Last summer, I spent a week in a small town named Sumas in the state of Washington through the Saugatuck Congregational Church(CT) youth group. The youth group partnered with a local nonprofit called Whatcom Long-term Recovery Group to better serve the community. The town and area surrounding it have a severe flooding problem. Our group spent the week rebuilding houses and flood-proofing them. In this post, I will share some of the ways we helped floodproof the house, as well as my personal experience with the people, the recovery group, and the land.
The Town and the People
Before I detail my trip to Washington, I feel as though it wouldn't be right not to mention the hospitality and openness that the town and the people of Sumas and Whatcom County as a whole had towards us. Most residents had just been through one of the worst experiences of their lives only a year before, and to think that they provided a place to stay, homecooked food every day, and general friendliness towards a bunch of high schoolers that live across the country. It would be terrible to write this in the scope that we only helped their community and they had no influence on us. The people of Whatcom have shown me what real compassion looks like.
What I am trying to say is that regardless of what you read below, do not think that the help we gave wasn't reciprocated. As I stated above, the people that we met had a much deeper impact on me than I could have ever imagined.
Some more context
There are many reasons as to this town's flooding problem is so unique. Before I get into what is actually causing these floods, I'd like to give keywords that you should know before you read this article. To start, the Sumas I mentioned above was the specific town that was most affected by these floods. They are generally a subarban, lower income, town that is on the border of the state of Washington and Canada. Also, by border, I genuinely mean on the border. At one of the houses we worked at, I could walk down the block, and I'd be in a different country. Whatcom is the county that Sumas is in and the Whatcom Long Term Recovery Group is a non profit founded by the county. Finally, the river itself that flood is named the Nooksack River, a body of water that flows through the valleys of Mount Baker, Mount Shuksan, and of course, Sumas. Fun fact, our group went to the peak of Mount Baker and had a snowball fight!
What causes these floods?
These floods are seasonal and are largely connected to climate change. The floods themselves are caused by these concentrated channels of moisture, known as atmospheric rivers. Atmospheric rivers are like aerial water pipelines, carrying massive amounts of moisture through the atmosphere. As they hit the land, they release this moisture, often causing heavy rainfamake ll and flooding. These 'rivers' are essential to Earth's water cycle. However, climate change has amplified these atmospheric rivers due the the elevated sea surface temperatures. As a result of this rising temperature, more water vapor is released into the atmosphere, leading to more water in these rivers. Finally, the excess water that falls after these atmospheric rivers are released leads to very harsh rain or many times, flooding. In a recent year, it was especially problematic. It was dubbed the "100 Year Flood".
What was aftermath of the flood? To keep it concise, this flood was nothing less than devastating. Over 85% of homes and buildings in the area were affected by the flood, leading to more than $50 million dollars in damages.
How did we help?
Obviously, a bunch of teenagers could not fix every home in this town, but that wasn't the goal. The goal was simply to make as much of a difference as possible. Many of the projects we worked on seemed like small and a bit meaningless, but seeing the lives we affected and the houses we worked on left us with a feeling of accomplishment. We worked on many projects throughout the town, and there were a couple that stood out to me.
There was this average sized house that seemed fine from the outside, despite a withered front porch and the unusual lack of a fence in that area. These were actually the two parts of the house that we were tasked to work on. For the front porch, we simply pulled out the old wood, and re did it. However, it was not such an easy fix for the fence. When we had first come to the site, it was evident that many aspects of the houses around had already been flood proofed in some shape or form. The fences were no exception. These fences were designed in such a way that water could freely flow through it, leading to it not collapsing. Above is a picture of me digging holes for the posts as well as the finished product. This project specifically was, in my opinion, the catalyst of my passion on civil and environmental engineering. This is because Ever since then, the idea of reinventing buildings and other objects to better fit a specific, and beneficial need, has very much resonated with me. In my opinion, that it is what civil engineering is all about
The other project that stuck out to me was a different house about a mile away from the one above, in which, a kind, elderly couple stayed. These two were some of ther most thankful and sweet people I have ever met. They had offered us water and always checked up on us. One of my favorite parts was when one of them walked out into their backyard and pulled out a heavy metal ball and told us it was a cannonball! Overall, the two were very interesting and had many stories to tell us. They seemed so happy to be together and it was terrible to see how the flood affected them. Much of the water had somehow gotten under the house and uprooted the outskirts of it, leaving no dirt to insulate the bottom. What's worse, in the following winter, the water under the house combined with the freezing winds froze all the pipes, which led to no water flow our heating to the house. It felt very disheartening to us, knowing that there were other families here and in other flood prone areas that could not get any help or did not know that it existed. We ended up re-covering the edges of the house with extra dirt. This project spoke to me on more of a moral way, unlike the first one, because it opened my eyes to the true effects of floods like these. Aside from the occasional hurricane, living in the northeast AND on a massive hill for most of my life has not opened my eyes to such natural disasters. From this experience specifically, it was like a turning point in my head where I told myself, "Okay, this is real... floods and other natural disasters like these do affect everybody," To add to this(from my interpretation), the couple was on the older side and only heard of help by luck, so if they had not, they would have had to live without heat or running water from months.
What I learned from this trip
This trip taught me many things. Both practically and morally. I learned how to dig massive holes, but I also learned about the help that many people lack in scenarios like this around the world. I learned how to tear apart the floorboards of a moldy wooden deck, but I also learned how compassionate people can be for their community. This trip truly changed my life.
A couple of thanks
First, I wanted to thank the Saugatuck Congregational Church as well as Mrs. Kim Mathias, the head of our youth group. Thank you very much for this opportunity and for accepting me. Thank you to The Whatcom Long Term Recovery Group and Ms. Laurel Diacogiannis for helping, giving us to place to stay, and cooking delicious dinners every night. Finally, thank you to my masi(aunt) for introducing me to this Church. Without you, I could have never even imagined doing something like this.
Closing Note
Thank you everybody for reading. I hope you enjoyed learning a little more about my experiences and I hope you stay and subscribe for more articles like this. Have a good day, evening, or night! Below are some other pictures I wanted to show but couldn't figure out where to put them
P.S. Gleb, if you read this, thank you for getting my shoe stuck out of the mud and I hope you're doing amazing at Sacred Heart... Shout out Gleb
A kayak trip to see bioluminescent plankon.
My cousin "working hard" on the fence
The couple we had helped insulate their house
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