· By Phoebe Carpenter Eells
December 2025
Thursday December 11, 2025
Behind the Scenes, Flood Prep Edition
The Skagit River is running hot and we spent yesterday deep in conversations about risk analysis and then in action preparing for the worst and hoping for the best. Original models had the river rising in Mount Vernon to 42 feet but this morning those have backed off to a projection of a little over 39 feet. This would still be a record high, but falls under what the downtown flood wall can handle. We are feeling grateful for the flood wall and fairly confident in the technology but there's another concern. The risk of flash flood is high with a reputable source believing there's a likelihood of levee failure under these conditions. No one knows which levee would fail, so we are all preparing to see water and hoping to stay dry.
With the flash flood risk the city is asking that downtown businesses stay closed to keep people out of low-lying areas. Safety is always number one so we will be closed for at least today, we're excited to open our doors back up as soon as it's safe.
Yesterday we prepped the shop and downtown with sandbags and plastic. Our teens and Jonathan made over 250 sand bags and delivered them to downtown. The MVDA, business owners, citizens, and random guys parked nearby helped get bags into place. I saw teens I've known since kindergarten at the sand bag stations, working all day just to help the community.
The silver lining of things like this is to watch the community come together. To feel the love and care of people checking in. I'm blown away by this community, by the people in it, by the downtown businesses, and our ability to lift big together.
We will head out shortly to grab more sandbags for downtown and to see how everything is looking. I'll be updating our social media and replying to messages as I can. If you have any questions or words of encouragement you can always reply to this email.
If you want to shop the online shop is set to free shipping on any order- no code required! We would love to send you some indie-made goodness.
Fingers crossed,
Phoebe