Squirrel Causes Canal Breach, Floods Kennewick Homes

Monday night a group of houses off 13th ave near Columbia Center Blvd. was flooded by a canal leak. Officials think the breach was caused by an animal like a ground squirrel or skunk according to news reports. Five houses total received bad water damage, flooding, and the families living there had to be evacuated. Millions of gallons were estimated to have flowed out of the canal into the neighborhood and KID says small animals are usually the cause when a canal breaks. Some families had over 18 inches of water flooded into their house filling there entire property with mud that smells like an outhouse.

KID says that their insurance should cover all the costs of the damage and the living costs for the families while they have to be relocated. KID also has a small animal trapper focusing on the area where the break happened. They say that the high heat is what causes small animals to bury deeper into the ground, causing the canal breach.

Why aren't canals that hold millions of gallons of water, made with stronger walls like cement that animals can't dig through? That is the question customers that live around the canals should be asking KID.