Protect Your Property

8 Things You Can Do to Protect Your Home

  • Buy Flood Insurance.
  • Have sand bags and other items to protect your home such as plastic sheeting, plywood, and portable pumps at the ready.
  • Store important documents and personal objects where they won't get damaged.
  • Elevate or relocate utilities and/or your entire home.
  • Install backflow prevention devices in your sewer connections to prevent floodwaters from entering your home.
  • Build and install flood shields for doors and openings to prevent the entrance of floodwater.
  • Install a sump pump with backup power in crawl spaces or basements.
  • Place openings in your foundation walls that will allow the entrance and exit of floodwaters to prevent foundation failure.

Where Can I Build

The City of Sultan regulates all development within identified floodplains to promote public safety and prevent flood losses through its Critical Areas Ordinance. Any filing, grading, new constructions, or alterations to a property within the Municipal Floodplain will require a permit. Also, the City of Sultan Code will require any structure within the designated floodplain that is damaged or improved more than 50% of its market value to be elevated to the designated floodplain elevation. To find out if your property is in a designated floodplain, or to report any probable non-permitted development in the floodplain contact please contact the City of Sultan Building Department at 360-793-2231.

Things You Can Do To Prevent Localized Flooding

  • Do not dump debris in creeks, streams or channels. It is a violation of City Code to dump in the waterways of Snohomish County.
  • Keep roadside ditches and other conveyances free of obstruction.
  • Report any apparent illegal actions within the floodplain such as unpermitted development or dumping.

Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) "Against the Wind: Protecting your Home from Hurricane & Wind Damage"

During a hurricane, homes may be damaged or destroyed by high winds and high waves. Debris can break windows and doors, allowing high winds inside the home. In extreme storms, such as Hurricane Andrew, the force of the wind alone can cause weak places in your home to fail.

After Hurricane Andrew, a team of experts examined homes that had failed and ones that had survived. They found four areas that should be checked for weakness:

  • Doors
  • Garage door (if you have one)
  • Roof
  • Windows

In the FEMA 247 Brochure, we discuss some things you can do to help make your home stronger before the next hurricane strikes. You may need to make some improvements or install temporary wind protection. It is important that you do these projects now, before a hurricane threatens. While these projects, if done correctly, can make your home safer during a hurricane, they are no guarantee that your home won’t be damaged or even destroyed. If you are told by authorities to evacuate, do so immediately, even if you have taken these precautions.