King County councilmember works to secure bomb cyclone recovery funds
King County councilmember works to secure bomb cyclone recovery funds
King County Councilmember Sarah Perry says she wants to support neighbors who were hit the hardest by Tuesday's bomb cyclone.
ISSAQUAH, Wash. - King County Councilmember Sarah Perry says she wants to support neighbors who were hit the hardest by Tuesday's bomb cyclone.
That includes a neighborhood off of East Sunset Way with several damaged homes.
While many of the trees that had fallen on homes have been removed, and patches applied to the houses, some remain uninhabitable. Perry says it's urgent to try to get help for those homeowners.
Tree clearing was still underway in yards, streets and alleys in Issaquah on Monday.
Near the East Sunset Way Trailhead, longtime neighbor Kasy Schlick says he's never experienced anything like this.
"I think it’s just a freak storm," said Schlick. "The wind was howling, and trees were coming down and snapping and popping."
He's been helping neighbors repair things on or around their homes since the storm hit, including a set of skylights that were damaged next door during the storm. He even rescued others alongside family members on Tuesday night.
"We went out cruising the streets, pulling people out of holes, ditches, cutting trees," said Schlick.
"All of these fell," said Sarah Perry, King County Councilmember, District 3.
Perry took FOX 13 crews on a tour to see some of the damage.
"They fell over into the second house over here, and they are both uninhabitable," said Perry.
At one of the homes, Perry showed FOX 13, winds drove a tree top into the roof like a spear.
"It just snapped off and became this projectile missile into this roof over here," said Perry. "It went straight through onto her bed where she and her daughters were sleeping just a foot away. It’s terrifying."
Perry is working on legislation alongside other lawmakers to help with recovery.
"Councilmember Reagan Dunn, who represents the Maple Valley, Enumclaw, Renton area, and I, put together legislation to ask the Executive to expedite the processes," said Perry. "So that for permitting, for example, if you needed support for your foundation, or your footing, or structural issues, homes and businesses would be able to have those permit processes expedited so they can go back to living their lives."
She's also hoping to open up grants to reimburse people for hotel stays and food that may have spoiled in the storm.
"To open up grants, that would make it possible to get reimbursed for hotel stays as a result of the storm, food perished. We waived the tipping fee for dumps and paying for debris removal, things like that," she said.
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In areas like Mirrormont, where residents were trapped for days due to fallen trees and downed power lines, the absence of state and local leadership has sparked frustration.
Perry says leaders are also working to substantiate the damage in order to possibly meet the requirement for FEMA reimbursement.
"There are requirements for a federal disaster declaration or state disaster declaration. It’s so localized, but with our businesses being closed in Sammamish, Issaquah and Maple Valley for a week, we are hoping that the 10.4 million threshold will be reached," she said.
Meantime, Kasy is having a dead tree removed from his yard before another storm can roll in.
"It’s dangling, and it’s going to come down on someone’s home, so we are going to take it out before that," he said.
For those in the Issaquah area that still need help, give the city a call.
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