Valley Record SNOQUALMIE
Wednesday, FEBRUARY 29, 2012 n Daily updates at www.valleyrecord.com n 75 cents
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A wet tradition No escape from annual flood for Lower Valley campers, farmers By Seth Truscott Editor
With only one month to go until spring, Fall City resident Ken Meadors thought he might have lucked out, surviving the winter of 2012 flood-free. But Mother Nature had other ideas, so there Meadors was, packing up his fifth wheel for a short trip to higher ground as the sun set Tuesday, Feb. 21. “I was just about ready to set-up permanent,” he said. “Then you get that snow combination with the ‘Pineapple Express’, and you’re done.”
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See FLOOD, 3
‘Pawsta’ party to benefit local pet charity Animal Partners Page 11
Index Opinion Letters Schools Sports Puzzles Legal Notices
Under one roof
River rescue
By Carol Ladwig
Rising waters strand man on Mill Pond Road
On a bright February day, the wooden beams and roofing of Carnation’s rising Tolt Commons Community Shelter have a warm and welcoming feel, just as builder Jon Romanelli planned. The building, an L-shaped post and beam structure with an enclosure at the center, assembled with handworked mortise-and-tenon joints, seems to wrap visitors in the rich colors and smells of natural cedar. “You see a house done this way, and you walk inside of it, you almost feel… kind of almost hugged by the wood,” he explained.
Rescuers waded through waist-deep water just after 4 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 22, to rescue a 40-year-old-man from the rising Snoqualmie River. The man was standing on a floating log, hanging onto a tree in the area of Mill Pond Road, between the river and the circular lake known as Lake Borst. According to the King County Sheriff’s Office, which sent a marine rescue team to help, the man used a cell phone to call 9-1-1 for help.
New structure built on hopes of uniting Carnation 4 5 6 8 11 13
Vol. 98, No. 40
Staff Reporter
See SHELTER, 2
Carol Ladwig/Staff Photo
Tilth members Jon Romanelli and Heidi Bohan are excited for completion of the Tolt Commons Community Shelter.
See RESCUE, 3
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SCENE
Seth Truscott/Carol Ladwig/Staff Photos
Top, police monitor Tolt Hill Road near Carnation Wednesday, Feb. 22, after flood waters washed across the Lower Valley. Left, water covers fields and Snoqualmie River Road. Right, Mike Creasey, a resident of Snoqualmie River RV Park in Fall City, starts his motorcycle, checking on neighbors and preparing to leave.