PACIFIC, Wash. — As another flood season approaches, Pacific residents are confronting a plan to reinforce protection along the White River while a permanent fix for the city’s vulnerable flood defenses may still be years away. The King County Flood Control District presented its flood-season plan Monday, Oct. 12. It calls for extending the levee along the river’s right side into Pacific Park, reducing the park’s size by an amount that would depend on the option selected. One version is estimated to cost $159 million. The proposal follows flooding in December 2025, when a levee failed and water surged toward homes, forcing hundreds of people to evacuate. Jacqualine Boles, whose home flooded, said she is worried about facing another emergency without a reliable long-term solution. “What are we supposed to do, sit here and wait again?” Boles said. The city’s current temporary protection includes HESCO barriers installed after severe flooding in 2009. The barriers failed during the 2025 flood, and the county has been reinforcing them since December. A permanent project could take as long as eight years, according to Pacific Mayor Vic Kave, and its final design has not been settled. Kave said the county’s proposal focuses on changing water flows but does not address what he believes is a key local risk: sediment accumulating in the river and raising its bed, making it more likely that water will overtop levees and flood walls. He also criticized the county’s communication with the city. The Flood Control District did not respond to detailed questions about the plan, instead directing attention to public comment at Pacific City Hall on Monday. A district representative said some properties would need to be purchased. Since the December flood, six households have joined the county’s voluntary buyout program, and seven more are in the process, the representative said. The program is available to communities that have flooded, or face flood risk, at least twice within 10 years. Boles qualifies for a buyout but is unsure whether leaving would mean losing the neighborhood and community she has built. Kave said buyouts could also shrink Pacific’s tax base and leave a patchwork of empty lots and homes. Dozens of residents took buyouts after the 2009 flooding, he said. Boles urged officials and the public not to forget residents still living with the risk. “Pacific is standing strong,” she said. “Don’t forget about us.”