Like many Seattle residents, Sid and Hilda Andrews lost something
during last December’s record rainstorm. A foot and a half of raw
sewage bubbled up into the basement of their North Seattle home before
they were able to start pumping it out. When the rain stopped, Sid
Andrews, 82, found his office—along with the furniture in the
couple’s finished basement—destroyed.
One of the most upsetting losses, Andrews says, was in three large
freezers tucked away in his basement. According to Andrews, when the
freezers fizzled and died, he lost nearly $700 worth of food meant for
local shelters and food banks.
Since the end of World War II, Andrews, a former medical corpsman
stationed in the South Pacific, has worked to support his fellow
veterans. In recent years, much of that work has been done through his
website, fallen-brothers.org.
The Andrewses drive all over town—sometimes as far as
Issaquah or Renton—picking up and dropping off supplies at area
food banks and shelters, to help serve the veterans, the homeless, and
the needy.
Andrews, who is on a fixed income, filed a damage claim with the
city in January, seeking reimbursement for the damage done to his home
and the food he lost. “[The flooding] was due to poor maintenance by
the city,” he says. However, the claim remains unresolved, and Andrews
is starting to worry. That may be for good reason: Some of his
neighbors have already received rejection letters from the city.
Residents filed 245 damage claims with the city following the
December 2007
rainstorm. The city has described the
storm—which dropped five inches of rain on North Seattle in 24
hours—as an act of God that overwhelmed the city’s
infrastructure. So far, only 12 claims have been approved while 80 have
been denied; the city is still investigating the remaining 153
cases.
Ted Lockhart lives just four houses up from the Andrewses. During
the storm, Lockhart’s basement filled with five inches of rainwater,
and he filed a claim with the city. In February, Lockhart received a
letter from the city’s finance department denying responsibility for
any flooding.
“Seattle’s sewer system was built to handle this constant type of
drizzle we have here,” says Bruce Hori, the city’s director of risk
management. “Beyond that, it’s an act of nature or an act of God. We
can’t guarantee that everybody is going to be water-free. I wish we
could, but that would cost billions of dollars.”
The city is still investigating a number of claims, and Hori says
it’s likely more claims will be approved. Still, Andrews is getting
restless. He says some residents have talked about filing a class
action lawsuit, but he’d prefer to resolve his claim directly with the
city.
“I want the city to replace the food for the homeless and needy
[that we lost],” he says. “[I don’t want to] have to hire an attorney.”
