In anticipation of future floods, Sumner City Council is supporting efforts to curtail flood damage from the Puyallup and White rivers.

The Rivergrove community, which sits adjacent to the Puyallup River, was in the path of flooding several times including 2008 and 2009 in the storm, which led to the evacuation of some of the structure’s approximately 400 residents.

Floods in 1996, 2006 and 2009 caused damages of more than $30 million and resulted in displacement of residents and an evacuation order, along with the closure of state Route 410. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) reaffirmed in its latest flood mapping the Rivergrove community is in the Puyallup River flood plain.

Beyond damage to residential structures and distress to its residents, Sumner’s industrial area was damaged in January by flooding of the White River.

The city anticipates more floods in the future because further urban development will create sediment and gravel deposits in the channels of the Puyallup and White Rivers, causing them to have higher water levels.

The Lower Puyallup River Flood Protection Executive Task Force presented dredging as a method of reducing the impact of flooding. Dredging would remove sediment from the rivers, allowing them to contain more water in the event of an extended period of precipitation. Other methods include constructing more levees and raising other levees.

Agencies empowered to implement these measures include Pierce County, the Washington State Department of Natural Resources, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The council’s resolution does not require action or put it into motion, but urges the dredging and other measures to occur and urges the Washington State Legislature to provide the necessary means for the project.