Neighbors, businesses cleaning up after Sumas flood

SUMAS, Wash. – Families in Whatcom County were still dealing with flood waters by Monday evening.

This weekend, rivers spilled their banks, closing down roads and the border crossing to Canada for a time.

By Monday the sun was shining but the dry weather wasn’t enough to clear all the flood water. Parts of Sumas were hard to reach.

“We deal with it,” said Dan Steiner. “I wouldn’t want to have a business down here.”

“The brunt of it was taking by the market,” said Alex Kildall. “It was hit pretty bad."

The Cherry Street Market was in cleanup mode Monday after flood waters crept out of the streets and indoors.

“There was a lot of people in kayaks floating around the river,” said Kildall. “The ducks were having a great time.”

It wasn’t just the streets, flood waters covered yards for several blocks. Neighbors say Sunday looked even worse.

“It’s probably come down seven inches from around my house yesterday,” said Tim Bosch.

“Well it looks a lot better than it was,” said Steiner. “It ain’t running in the streets anymore.”

Other businesses were seen power washing and cleaning property tainted by the flood water.

While the water slowly drains, some worry another storm could force neighbors to live through a second flood in one week.

That’s the concern as once the water drains the ground may still saturated by the time another storm rolls through.