Floodwaters that pushed through the city of Pacific last week could have been controlled 11 hours earlier if word had reached the federal agency that was releasing a torrent of water upstream at Mud Mountain Dam.
The Army Corps of Engineers said Tuesday it had no clue it was flooding two of the city's subdivisions. Still, once it learned the extent of the flooding, it took two more hours before there was an order to slow the release of water at the dam.
Who was responsible for alerting the corps — or whether the agency should have known better — has provoked finger-pointing among city and King County emergency officials. Fundamental questions also have been raised about the chain of command for disaster response and communication in King County.
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