December 2025 Flooding Response (Washington Military Department Emergency Management Division)
Summary
This is a Washington Military Department Emergency Management Division slide presentation titled December 2025 Flooding Response, prepared for the House Technology, Economic Development, & Veterans Committee. The incident overview covers December 5 - December 22, with back-to-back atmospheric rivers that dropped 20-40 inches of rain in Western WA river basins and 33 rivers flooded, 18 of them exceeding major flood stage. The summary of impacts says nearly 4,000 homes were affected, more than 100,000 residents were evacuated, one fatality occurred, and more than 380 successful rescues were conducted. The challenges and capability gaps include search and rescue, alert, warning, and evacuation, and the State Emergency Operations Center.
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“December 2025 Flooding Response (Washington Military Department Emergency Management Division).”
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Washington Military Department
Emergency Management Division
December 2025 Flooding Response
House Technology, Economic Development, &
Veterans Committee
1
Washington Military Department
Emergency Management Division
Incident Overview: December 5 - December 22
• Back-to-back atmospheric rivers dropped 20-40
inches of rain in Western WA river basins
• 300% to 600% of normal rainfall for this period
• 33 rivers flooded with 18 exceeding major flood stage
• 3 rivers exceeded record flood levels
• Widespread landslides and mudslides caused
significant infrastructure damage
• A strong system brought extremely high winds
statewide
• 114mph winds were measured at White Pass with many
locations statewide seeing peak winds of 50-80mph
• Widespread tree and power infrastructure damage Percent of normal precipitation for the 14-day period of
• More than 378,000 customers were without power at December 6-19 (Source: National Weather Service)
peak
2
Washington Military Department
Emergency Management Division
Summary of Impacts
• Nearly 4,000 homes were affected
• At least 440 homes were destroyed or had major damage
• More than 100,000 residents were evacuated
• One fatality occurred and more than 380 successful
rescues were conducted
• Transportation system impacts isolated communities and
complicated response efforts
• Damage to 34 state highways and countless local roadways
• Flood control infrastructure was significantly damaged
• Widespread impacts to drinking water and wastewater
treatment systems
• Widespread agriculture impacts
• Flooded cropland, damaged dairy and livestock facilities,
disrupted feed and milk supply chains
3
Washington Military Department
Emergency Management Division
What Almost Happened
US Army Corps of Engineers Inundation Modeling
Modeling indicates this scenario would likely
have impacted an additional:
• Over 11,000 residential addresses, 1,200
commercial properties, and
800 agriculture parcels
12/9 Forecast Actual observed flows • Two hospitals and more than 150 government
facilities, 100 schools and daycares 4
Washington Military Department
Emergency Management Division
The Effects of Mitigation and Preparedness
• Impacts of this disaster would have been much
more severe if not for a combination of:
• Effective mitigation efforts including:
• Land use regulations and building codes implemented
over time
• Concerted efforts by local communities to restore
floodplain where possible and protect critical
infrastructure
• State and local communities exceeding minimum NFIP
standards
• Significant improvements to response readiness:
• State investment in limited full time State EOC staff in the
2023 legislative session
• Strong state agency partnerships and effective pre-
disaster planning and coordination
Sumner Wastewater Treatment Plant with a floodwall at the confluence of
the White and Puyallup Rivers
5
Washington Military Department
Emergency Management Division
Mitigation Success Stories
• Hazard Mitigation Grant
Program (HMGP)
funded the Acquisition
of >500 flood prone
properties in impacted
counties
• Since 2013,
Ecology's Floodplains by
Design has funded:
• Property acquisitions
• Levee setbacks
• Home elevations, and
• Other projects to
reduce flood risk for
12,829 homes across
19 counties
6
Washington Military Department
Emergency Management Division
State Response Overview
• Gov. Ferguson proclaimed an emergency statewide on
December 10
• Mobilized the Washington National Guard
• Waived hours of service limitations for drivers hauling livestock feed
and dairy farm products
• The State Emergency Operations Center (EOC) was fully
activated for 14 days, during which time it:
• Coordinated 15 Emergency Support Functions, led and supported by
dozens of state agencies
• Led coordination with USACE, NWS, FEMA, and other federal
agencies
• Provided direct support to local and tribal governments to assure
their mission success
• A Presidential Emergency Declaration on December 12th
opened limited access to direct federal assistance
• FEMA provided incident management assistance, urban search and
rescue teams, and logistical support at the request of the State EOC
7
Washington Military Department
Emergency Management Division
Alerts, Warnings, and Evacuations
• More than 100,000 Washingtonians were instructed to evacuate
• In December, EMD's 24/7 Alert and Warning Center (AWC) issued
more than 30% of all alerts sent in 2025:
• 19 Wireless Emergency Alerts
• Including all evacuation warnings for Skagit Co due to a vendor outage impacting
their alert origination software
• 641 critical weather alerts
• Each sent to hundreds to thousands of state, tribal, and local emergency managers
and responders
• Interjurisdictional alert and warning coordination was challenging:
• Lack of shared statewide alert, warning, and evacuation software required
much coordination via phone and email
• Lack of common statewide evacuation levels increased risk of confusion,
especially for residents near jurisdictional boundaries
• Multilingual alert and warning was also challenging:
• Federal alert and warning systems do not support languages other than
English and Spanish
• Local jurisdictions lack resources for just-in-time translation of warning
messages
8
Washington Military Department
Emergency Management Division
Search and Rescue
• EMD activated the state's Rescue Coordination Center (RCC)
• 383 rescues, 1,000 assisted evacuations, and 1 recovery were
conducted
• Significant aviation response involving:
• 27 helicopters, 12 fixed-wing planes, and 11 unmanned aerial
systems
• Whatcom and Snohomish counties each performed more
than 50 rescues without state assistance
• Extensive in-state mutual aid was deployed
• 13 swift water rescue teams were mobilized through interlocal
mutual and by state agencies
• WA National Guard personnel, vehicles, and aircraft supported
SAR missions
• Active-duty military resources were also heavily utilized
• Interstate and FEMA support were required when in-state
resources were depleted
• 2 swift water rescue teams from CA and OR, and 2 urban search
and rescue teams from FEMA were needed 9
Washington Military Department
Emergency Management Division
Successful State Agency Partnerships
• Dozens of agencies conducted state missions and supported local and tribal missions
• Over 150 tribal and local requests for assistance were answered by state agencies
through the State EOC, for example:
• DNR and WSDOT drained trapped floodwaters from Sumas by removing a large blocked culvert
when others could not
• The State Fire Marshal's Office (WSP) partnered with EMD to leverage the All-Hazards
Mobilization System to deploy water rescue teams for the first time
• National Guard teams joined up with state and local SAR teams, combining resources to facilitate
rapid evacuations and rescues
• National Guard worked with USACE and King County to patrol levees and place sandbags to
prevent additional levee failures
• DNR used aircraft usually used for firefighting to fly aerial imagery and LiDAR missions to assess
damages and landslide risk
• DNR and Department of Corrections deployed incident management teams to support county
emergency operations centers
• Department of Commerce leveraged grant programs to provide generators to tribes, protecting
elders reliant on home medical equipment
10
Washington Military Department
Emergency Management Division
Individual and Public Assistance Update
• Federal Individual Assistance (IA)
• Request for IA declaration submitted on January 21
• Under review by FEMA and White House
• Approval is at the discretion of the President
• No clear timeline for a decision
• State Individual Assistance
• Gov. Ferguson provided $2.5mil to fund State IA delivery
and $1mil to fund DSHS Disaster Cash Assistance Program
• Household Needs Grant Program delivery currently
underway
• Rental Assistance Program and Temporary Sheltering
Program are being activated
• Federal Public Assistance (PA)
• Joint Preliminary Damage Assessments remain underway
with FEMA
• PA declaration request to be submitted before February 18
11
Washington Military Department
Emergency Management Division
Challenges and Capability Gaps
• Search and Rescue
• Lack of a statewide coordinated system for urban and technical rescue
• Capacity is unevenly distributed across the state
• Limited access to nearby interstate mutual aid
• Misalignment between operational capabilities and statutory responsibilities
• Cost burden for SAR aviation is disproportionately assumed by 4 counties which routinely support statewide
missions
• Inconsistent funding for volunteer SAR teams, limiting capacity
• State-level staffing capacity concerns
• Alert, Warning, and Evacuation
• Washington needs shared, statewide systems to improve effectiveness and reach, by:
• Coordinating effectively across jurisdictional boundaries
• Meeting linguistic and disability accessibility needs of all Washingtonians
• Streamlining alerting on behalf of other jurisdictions when required
• Washington should consider legislation to implement uniform evacuation levels and terminology throughout
the state
12
Washington Military Department
Emergency Management Division
Challenges and Capability Gaps
• State Emergency Operations Center
• The State EOC's technology and capabilities to leverage data remain inadequate
• Systems are antiquated due to insufficient funding and technical capacity
• Systems are not integrated, delaying availability of essential data for decision making
• Extremely limited capability to share information with other agencies
• Incident Management Assistance
• Local jurisdictions rely heavily on external incident management resources
• EMD lacks necessary capacity to provide resource assistance
• Lack of funding for regional all-hazards incident management teams
• State Individual Assistance and Public Assistance Programs
• Programs are currently unfunded, relying on disaster-specific allocations
• Prevents necessary work to develop programs and build necessary systems and technology to quickly provide aid to
individuals and households
• Without sustained investment, timely relief to disaster affected households
• Mitigation Programs
• Need sustained investment for mitigation work to continue reducing impacts of disasters
13
Washington Military Department
Emergency Management Division
Questions
14
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