Save the ‘Nation

What’s “The ‘Nation”?

Carnation, WA, (lovingly nicknamed “The ‘Nation” by residents) is a small city in the picturesque Snoqualmie Valley. Sitting about 27 miles east of Seattle and situated at the confluence of the Tolt and Snoqualmie rivers, it’s home to those who enjoy the local farms, hiking and biking trails, the rivers, and more. It’s a wonderful place to call home.

There is a dark threat quite literally looming over the city.

8

Number of False Alarms of the Tolt Dam Early Warning System since 2020

Why is the Tolt Dam
so (dam) important?

The Tolt Dam water reservoir, about 16 miles upstream of Carnation, holds the drinking water for about 40% of Seattle residents. It’s a critical resource for the city of Seattle.

However, if the dam were to break, Carnation residents have approximately 1 hour to evacuate the city. The homes and businesses left in their wake will be submerged under 30’+ of water. The city will be largely demolished and most residents will be displaced.

A Short History Lesson

Built in 1962, the dam has been in operation for over 61 years. The primary purpose of the dam has remained the same since it was first built, and today the water reservoir provides drinking and tap water to over 500,000 Seattle residents who live north of Greenlake.

The dam is managed by Seattle Public Utilities (SPU), which issues scheduled weekly tests of the Tolt Dam Early Warning alarm every Wednesday at noon. Residents are familiar with the test sirens and accompanying message that play over several loudspeakers peppered through the city. Prior to 2020, the system, while antiquated, still worked reliably.

In 2020 SPU vowed to improve the Early Warning System by adding new and more sirens with improved audio quality and adding new dam monitoring software to capture and better analyze the activity of the dam.

When the dam was originally built the city of Carnation was a small farming community. Today, over 2,200 people live in the city, and the population is growing by the month. These promised improvements were an exciting, and welcome improvement for the city.

The Unimaginable Happened

Tuesday, July 28, 2020, brought chaos and panic to every person in the city. The dam alarm sounded. It wasn’t a test. The city-wide speakers played a long, sustained siren, followed by the announcement, “The Tolt Dam has failed. Evacuate the area immediately.”

Out of nowhere, our lives were suddenly at stake.

Residents worked quickly to pack up their most precious things; children, pets, neighbors, mementos, and important legal documents, and drive, or walk, as quickly as they could out of the city to safe ground.

Approximately 35 minutes after the dam failure alarm sounded a Public Safety Alert from King County was issued via mobile phone that the siren was a false alarm and no evacuation was needed. When residents returned to the city the dam failure message was still playing on the loudspeakers.

This first false alarm was the fault of SPU who blamed the mishap on software failure.

Since July 28, 2020, Carnation has had to endure seven more false alarms.

The Aftermath

All eight false alarms have shaken the community. Children, and adults alike, suffer from anxiety, PTSD, stress, and more as a result of repeated incompetency on behalf of SPU’s inability to responsibly manage the dam alarm infrastructure.