‘Just what we do.’ Tri-Cities neighbors come together in Yakima River flood
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Owners and volunteers moved many RVs and trailers to higher ground.
- Yakima River crested above 16 feet after an atmospheric river event.
- About 160 homes and RV lots were affected; businesses shored up, began cleanup.
When the Yakima River started to rise last Tuesday, Justin and Sheena Marshall knew that a Benton City RV park was in the danger zone.
“In our business, I have to keep an eye on the weather,” Justin Marshall, the co-owner of Badger Canyon RV of Benton City told the Tri-City Herald. “We tried to get ahead of it.”
The Marshalls and their employee worked late into the night on Thursday and Friday to move fifth-wheel trailers out of harm’s way of way the debris-filled water. Many of the homes at Beach RV Park hadn’t moved for more than a decade.
They worked with Benton City Mayor Len Burton to find spots for the trailers around town. They ended up on roads, in parking lots, even at the Badger Mountain RV lot.
“It’s how we like to do things around here,” Justin Marshall said. “Somebody has to keep Santa’s sleigh flying. It’s just what we got to do, lead by example and bring from good and joy into the world.”
The rising Yakima River, fed by rain from the atmospheric river, pushed water levels to a crest of more than 16 feet at the Kiona-Benton City marker, the highest they reached in 30 years.
Neighbors found ways to help each other, as water poured over pastures, roads and parking lots from Benton City to Richland.
An estimated 160 homes and RV lots were affected, said Benton County emergency officials.
In Richland, a neighbor dropped off some sandbags to help out the Eller brothers on Saturday.
In the span of time that it took to walk down their driveway to Van Giesen Street to get the bags, the swift-flowing water was too deep to carry the bags back to the house.
Wyatt Eller said Monday they were surprised by how fast the water pushed onto their property.
“It hasn’t flooded in years,” he said. “I guess they didn’t see it coming.”
Isaac Eller got a canoe and started paddling back to the house with some of the sandbags.
But soon, the water was moving too quickly, so someone let them borrow a motorized, 16-foot flat bottom boat to take the rest of the bags to put around the house.
Businesses were also affected.
Paul Wood and his family worked long hours to shore up Wood’s Nursery on Van Giesen Street to hold back the worst of the surge. They also worked to get sandbags around his son’s home behind the well-known store.
The water eventually flowed across Van Giesen (Highway 224) and pushed its way past the sandbags and into the store.
“The water got right up to the bottom of those trees,” Wood said, gesturing to some Christmas trees for sale. “We were supposed to have Santa Claus on Saturday. He did not show up.”
Flood water cleanup
Wood’s Nursery was back open for business on Monday. The floors were cleaned up, and the Christmas trees were set out on display. Wood said the biggest damage to the business was losing a busy Christmas shopping weekend.
“We thought it’d be a lot worse, but it was very fortunate,” he said.
They needed to spray clean the concrete outside the store. A thin line of silt on a mini fridge on a table showed where the water reached before receding.
Some places in western Richland remained underwater on Monday. The 9-hole Buckskin Golf Club on Bronco Lane continued to try and pump water off the course on Monday evening.
“We’re just waiting for everything to go away so we can get cleaned up,” an employee told the Herald. “Everything is underwater, tractors, golf carts, everything.”
The Ellers weren’t able to stop the water from getting inside their Richland home. The basement had a couple of inches of wate but didn’t reach the main floot. Wyatt Eller said the damage should end up being minimal.
For the people who stayed parked at the Beach RV Park on Saturday, watching the continually rising water was nerve wracking. They saw it reach their bottom step before it finally started to roll back.
Justin Marshall said he kept checking by phone with the RV owners at the park as they waited to see if it would get higher. He told them if it rose above that step to call so he could pull them out of there.
The water was receding Monday but the threat of more flooding in Benton City hasn’t eased, and they are trying to come up with a plan for when it will be safe to move people back.
