Part 3 of a three-part series looks at recent local flooding events that made state history.
According to the first responders, government officials and nonprofits involved, Whatcom County saw greater recovery in 2025 compared to the 2021 flooding events.
Following the 2021 floods, Whatcom Long-Term Recovery Group — aka Whatcom Strong — emerged, according to vice president Ashley Butenschoen, and has remained the only long-term disaster recovery nonprofit in the county since.
She said the group is composed of citizens, first responders and local leaders who found each other through wanting to help after the 2021 floods. The organization became a nonprofit in 2022 and has specific certification to provide long-term recovery.
Butenschoen said that being a long-term recovery organization opened the door to national resources for the recent floods that weren’t available in 2021.
The work
The team includes about five case managers who work with clients from the moment a natural disaster is declared.
“Initially, with floods, we come in and we do what’s called a ‘muck out,’ and we work with community partners,” she said.
One of those partners is BP, which provides a team of first responders who work with Whatcom Strong and its volunteers to muck out a home.
“When a flood comes, we then need to immediately get everything out of the home that the flood water has touched, whether that’s insulation, under the crawl space, flooring, drywall, everything that the flood waters have touched all the way down to the studs,” Butenschoen said.
Volunteers pump out water and push debris into the roads to be hauled. Butenschoen said the county sheriff’s department ensures there is a dump site for the debris.
Once initial cleanup is complete, Butenschoen said those in need will reach out to Whatcom Strong to fill out an individual assistance form, which helps the organization receive government funding.
Butenschoen said 827 homes in Whatcom County were impacted in 2025. In 2021, the organization had 677 clients.
After intake, Whatcom Strong works with a variety of organizations and businesses that provide volunteers to complete different tasks for clients.
“They do a bunch of different stuff, from mold remediation spray to rebuilding and reconstruction,” Butenschoen said, adding that businesses like Costco, Home Depot and Lowe’s provided supplies like water bottles, totes and respirators.
She feels every county should have a similar organization.
“When (they) do not exist, you compound disaster,” she said. “The crazy thing is, usually when you have one disaster, something else follows.”
Increasing disasters
In 2021, freezing weather further compromised an already flooded county, and Butenschoen said it’s possible we’re not out of the weeds yet this winter.
“The likelihood of us having another disaster this big, now that we’ve had two in four years, it’s very high,” she said. “It’s scary, because they’re supposed to be 100-year floods, now four years apart, that makes me think that it’s going to happen multiple times a year.”
During Whatcom Environmental Council board president Carl Weimer’s 12 years on the Whatcom County Council, he served as the chair of the natural resource and flood committees, where he witnessed the increase of large floods.
“I think people have noticed for years now that we’re getting 100-year floods much more frequently than every 100 years,” he said in an interview.
The county has plans for flooding events but doesn’t always have the resources to address them, he said. The cost to protect communities like Everson and Sumas are sometimes “out of the realm that local governments can fund.”
“A lot of stuff has been planned, and I think it is pretty well engineered, it just needs the money to pull the trigger,” he said.
Preventing the next one
The Whatcom Environmental Council sends letters to the Whatcom County Planning Commission and county council regarding the ongoing work on the county’s comprehensive plan.
“Some of the cities are still asking for growth in the flood areas which, to us, doesn’t make much sense,” Weimer said. “You’re just putting more people in harm’s way, especially as you recognize that … a lot of what this is being driven by is climate change.”
Rather than continuing to spend money on flood recovery, it could be cheaper to buy out homes and move people to higher ground, he said.
Whatcom Strong prepares its clients to remain resilient for the next disaster, Butenschoen said, which includes reinforcing homes.
Prevailing wage contractors — which must meet minimum pay and benefits standards — are required on government-funded home elevation projects, and those workers are “very few and far between in Washington state,” according to Butenschoen.
Board members, including Everson Mayor John Perry, are advocating at the state level to raise more homes.
Perry wrote in an email to Salish Current that the city was better prepared compared to the 2021 floods, despite a higher impact on homes.
While the 2025 flood didn’t last as long, west of Washington Street in Everson received about seven inches more water than the last flood. In the days leading up to the flood, Everson coordinated with Whatcom County, Nooksack, Sumas and Fire Districts 1 and 14 to handle road closures, voluntary evacuations and water rescues.
“The experience we gained in 2021 helped better prepare us for this flood,” he said.
Because of this coordination, swift-water rescues were decreased by 90%, he said, and Whatcom Strong was “instrumental” in the transition between response and recovery.
— By Libby Williams
Also read in Salish Current:
• “Flooded homes, hidden lives: volunteers step up for undocumented residents,” Feb. 5, 2025
• “December floods test salmon habitats, restoration efforts,” Feb. 4, 2025
• ‘Two-headed hydra’ worsens regional flooding ,” Dec. 19, 2025
• “Flooding on the border: Three years and waiting,” Oct. 15, 2024
• “Water worries on the rise: Nooksack addresses increased flooding,” Feb. 16, 2024