Downstream from dam, valley residents and businesses prepare for worst

The Green River snakes out of the Cascades into southwest King County, where wary residents watch it like a fuse. Since a January storm damaged the Howard Hanson Dam, the valley has been readying for the possibility that this thin, lazy stream might swell into that area's worst flood in nearly half a century. Apartment renters have broken leases and paid penalties to move away, while some homeowners have designed scaffolding to hoist possessions to keep them dry. Businesses have trucked in dirt and pallets of sandbags, and stacked 4,300-pound concrete blocks around their doorways. The dramatic and sometimes expensive precautions come amid a recession that already has many businesses and individuals teetering toward financial ruin. And some fear the safeguards won't even work...read more