South Park Residents – Underwater and Underserved

The South Park community is working to combat frequent flooding events, and calling for help from the City of Seattle.

One of the many houses in South Park, Seattle, that has its doorway sandbagged. // Jack Kudla

March 17, 2023

Story by Kenna Dupree

Seattle Public Utilities’ flood response line continued to ring, as Robin Schwartz watched rising water flow onto the streets of her neighborhood. 

“The emergency line for SPU flooding was busy, as it typically is during flood events,” said Schwartz, Development and Advocacy Manager for the Duwamish River Community Coalition (DRCC) in Seattle. “People were outside in their nightgowns and slippers and clearly couldn't get back in.”

On December 27, 2022, the South Park community saw what many officials called a perfect storm, which led to the flooding of 18 homes and several local businesses – displacing roughly a dozen families for weeks after the event. It left many with expensive repairs and flood damage that would take months to recover from.

“The river literally topped its banks, that has rarely happened,” said Troy Abel, professor of environmental policy at Western Washington University.

Abel sees this event as the combination of three factors: a king tide which brought particularly high tides, a low-pressure system that raised the local sea level and snowmelt from recent warm rain in the area. 

Despite this rare event, Duwamish River community members are no strangers to floods. Locals in the area have been struggling with old sewage systems that frequently flood, with little response from the city to repair or replace the outdated infrastructure.

“We’re talking about a community that is already vulnerable,” said Maribel Pastor, Bilingual Outreach Coordinator for Villa Comunitaria. “This is not the first time that flooding has occurred– yes, with the river overflowing, but sewer backup is something that has happened several times. That's the issue and people are tired of it.” 

46.3% of the South Park neighborhood population is Hispanic or Latino, 38% is BIPOC and 54.1% of residents’ first language is something other than English, according to the City of Seattle. 

“The Duwamish River communities have to keep going to the government to ask it to protect them from either flooding, or in my research, air pollution, and that's wrong,” Abel said. “That's environmental injustice, even worse, it's environmental racism.”

As sewage backups continue to create floods, many locals have gone to the city looking for help, with some people receiving city-installed grinder pumps. These work to temporarily prevent flooding.

Lining this corridor of houses is the familiar sight of sandbag walls, used to prevent and manage flooding in this area. // Jack Kudla

Individuals must file their own claims to receive assistance with damage repair and prevention.

“One problem with that is they made a list based on complaints of sewer backup in the past few years,” Schwartz said. “But they have no record of complaints of the Khmer-speaking neighbors on Chicago Street.”

During the December flood event, Chicago and Kenyon Street were two of the residential areas hit particularly hard.

“They say these people don't have sewer backups, but that's not true, because like I said, that reporting line is busy during big events and English only,” Schwartz said. “Most of these guys don't speak English at all, let alone at a level to be able to find the line and make the report. So the city has some work to do.”

For many, the aftermath of a flood event means living in a small hotel room for months with their families, having to manage day-to-day life without the comfort of their homes. Many who are displaced sometimes question if the option to return home even remains.

“I do believe the city has a fiscal and ethical responsibility to both renters and homeowners here, given the very long history of ignoring that responsibility,” Schwartz said.

Roughly 44% of the homes in South Park are occupied by renters. Many locals who get displaced by flood events face what can be long-term and sometimes permanent displacement, with renters being the majority of those impacted.

“So many of my neighbors are renters,” Schwartz said. “One of the things that I would really like to see on these two streets is the city really committing to anti-displacement measures as we repair.”

Homeowners are faced with substantial and expensive repair bills, sometimes resulting in the conclusion that it's easier to sell or tear down, rather than repair. This often leaves renters questioning what to do, where to go and how to get the help they need.

Community Response

Community groups and nonprofits, including the Duwamish River Community Coalition, Cultivate South Park, Villa Comunitaria and more are working within South Park to help ensure people find all of the support and connections available to them.

“We are like a bridge,” Pastor said. “So the community can understand what their rights and their resources are.”

After flood events, many Duwamish River locals reported that they found it hard to connect with all of the resources available to them in a way that feels safe, or they simply didn’t know help was out there due to language barriers. 

“We're not talking about government organizations. We're talking about community-based organizations where people feel safe,” Pastor said. “A lot of immigrants don't trust the government, they feel a lot better with their own kind, you know, with people that speak the same language, with people that are not going to pass on information to immigration.”

Many locals within the community are looking for help beyond the city and government – people who can help them get access to resources without fear. 

Sandbags piled up against garage doors or other doorways are a common sight in South Park, Seattle. // Jack Kudla

“That’s why we have community-based organizations, that's why we exist,” Pastor said. “We know that most of the resources available for everyone are not always for immigrant communities, they don't get them just because they’re not informed.”

Throughout South Park, community organizations are a major part of what keeps people connected.

“Food and shelter. Those are two really vital things each day for health and wellness of people, and we know not everyone has that,” said Crystal Brown, Executive Coordinator for Cultivate South Park.

Cultivate has been working alongside other community groups to help provide culturally relevant food to those who need it after the December flood event. They also maintain a food distribution center open to everyone within the community twice a week.

“We wanted to make sure we could help as much as we could with food and make sure it was culturally relevant,” Brown said. “We really took the lead from the DRCC, the Khmer group and Villa Comunitaria on what families were wanting and needing.”

Having familiar food during ongoing displacement is influential to overall community resilience and well-being, providing comfort during uncertain times.

Community groups are a large piece of the puzzle when it comes to helping locals get food, shelter and other basic needs. They are also advocating for the city to take real action toward future mitigation efforts.

City Response 

“The problem has been here for a while,” Pastor said. “It’s not really something new. And that has to do with infrastructure and communities left behind, South Park is one of those communities.''

As a highly industrial area, surrounded by shipping ports and big businesses, South Park residents are often excluded from conversations when it comes to mitigation planning.

“Many see the Duwamish River as a port and an industrial area, and they probably don't know much about the neighborhoods,” Abel said.

Flood barricade and warning pamphlets located directly in front of the community food bank in South Park, Seattle. // Jack Kudla

When examining the flood risk within this area, there is a high probability floods will continue to impact the community going forward, taking a toll on their ability to bounce back.

“They had begun a planning process for exactly this type of event that they actually didn’t expect to occur for another 20, 30 years,” Abel said. “Plans are one thing, results are another.”

The City of Seattle has some projects underway, including the South Park Drainage and Roadway Partnership project, which seeks to improve street drainage systems in the area and lessen the impact of floods.

South Park pump stations under construction will send stormwater flood runoff toward the Duwamish Waterway during high tide events. There is also a statewide shift in how climate change mitigation is starting to impact policy.

“There are new laws that have been passed,” Abel said. “One is the Healthy Environment for All Act (HEAL) that requires every state agency to make environmental justice part of their mission.”

Moving Forward

“At the end, this is a problem that could have been prevented and solved a while ago,” Pastor said. “We are appreciative of the help that we are getting, but at the same time it was long overdue.”

Duwamish River locals have been dealing with sewage backups and flood events for generations, their story is not only about climate change, but justice and community as well. 

The recurring theme of sandbag walls is present directly next to the Duwamish River, the culprit of all the flood defense. // Jack Kudla

“There's no such thing as a natural disaster because if it involves humans, there’s something that is happening in the social systems that's probably a root cause,” Abel said. “Poverty, economic marginalization, inadequate infrastructure, et cetera.”

As residents move past the king tide event in December, a growing awareness of the deeper problems ingrained within this community starts to become more present, and with it, their call for change.

“It’s multi-layered,” Schwartz said. “Folks on these two streets have been cleaning up sewage in their basements for as long as they’ve lived here; 10, 20, 30, 40 years. So yeah, it's a little bit shocking.”

Kenyon and 8th Ave, the main location for flooding in South Park. // Jack Kudla

Kenna Dupree is a senior at Western who is majoring in environmental studies with a minor in journalism. She strives to encourage important conversations about environmental issues.

Jack Kudla is a freshman at Western majoring in environmental studies. He enjoys traveling and shooting photos with his various film cameras.