The Sequim Dungeness River is as high as you’ll ever see it, higher than I’ve seen it in maybe 20 years. People asked if we have floods in the Sequim area, and we really don’t. The Sequim Dungeness is our main river, and when it gets high like this, it wears away some banks and re-routes some minor channels along the river, but even with this much water roaring through the valley, it doesn’t extend beyond the banks of the river, and it doesn’t reach homes. It would be an extraordinary event if it did.
The Sequim Dungeness River is a beautiful river starting way up in the Olympic Mountains as a creek and collecting water as it winds down the mountains heading to its final destination, the Strait of Juan de Fuca. When my boys were young, they often put a raft in the river from the bridge in this video and floated down to the Strait. But the water was much calmer than it is today.
Sequim Dungeness River Nearly Flooding
The Sequim Dungeness River is not a flooding threat in the county. A bigger threat to homeowners is existing wetlands. We have a high water table and in some areas there are ponds and standing water designated as wetlands by the Army Core of Engineers. I would say this about the Sequim Dungeness River. While we don’t worry about flooding, if you live along the river, you could see your property boundary evolving over the years. One property owner lost 10 feet of his bank one year. Nature must do her thing, and the Sequim Dungeness River is part of our natural beauty.
Last Updated on September 28, 2019 by Chuck Marunde
