Kraken, Climate Pledge, volunteer orgs clean up Seattle neighborhood wracked by flooding

Seattle Kraken help cleanup efforts in South Park flooding

Overwhelmed and underwater—that was the situation for many in Seattle's South Park neighborhood back in December. But cleanup efforts are still going, which is where volunteers from the Seattle Kraken community stepped in.

SEATTLE - In December, waters rose over the riverbank in Seattle’s South Park neighborhood—putting multiple blocks underwater, destroying homes and leaving families with nowhere to go.

Nearly 40 volunteers on Saturday came to South Park to help pick up the mess left over months later. Kicking off Green Month this year, the Seattle Kraken, Climate Pledge Arena, Non-Profit One Roof Foundation and Tegria united to help clean up. This is the second year cleaning up the South Park neighborhood, and last year, around 700 pounds of waste were collected.

"This neighborhood was hit by king tides a couple of months ago, unpredictable king tides heightened by the effect of climate change," said Brianna Treat, Director of Sustainability for Climate Pledge Arena & Seattle Kraken. "Environmental justice is one of our pillars with One Roof Foundation, and it’s really just about the basic human right to have fresh clean air to breathe, fresh water and a safe community to live in."

Other community members also joined in to help. Together, they picked up waste from cigarettes buds, plastic cans, aluminum and more.

"[It's] to keep our rivers clean, but also just for the community to help each other out," said volunteer Anne Churchill. "There’s a lot of garbage right in the storm drains."

Another volunteer said by cleaning up "It helps to keep the stuff out of rivers when we pick up the trash, so that’s the idea, is to protect the river." Said Jitka Proksova.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Severe flooding damages homes of families in Seattle's South Park neighborhood

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The theme for Climate Pledge Arena's efforts this month is ‘small acts create big change.’

"All of us coming together collectively in this neighborhood will make much more change than if we all just did it alone," said Treat. "Picking up waste, helping out the community, I think that goes a long way, we’re definitely leaders, and we want to lead by example, and I think that moves mountains."