Oak Harbor Activates Emergency Center, Prepares Water Reserves Amid Flooding

The City of Oak Harbor activated its Emergency Operations Center at Level 3 at 11:00 AM on December 10, 2025, in response to projected record breaking flood stages along the Skagit River. City officials said the lower level activation meant they would maintain situational awareness and monitor conditions in neighboring Skagit County, which was experiencing widespread flooding, road closures, school cancellations, and service disruptions.

Mayor Wright described the situation as urgent, and stressed public safety concerns. “This is a serious situation,” Mayor Wright said. “Please keep yourself and your family safe by staying out of the area while roads are being cleared. I also want our community to know that City services may be impacted during this time, because we have City employees who live in Skagit County and are not able to drive safely to Oak Harbor.” Oak Harbor Fire Chief Travis Anderson coordinated a task force to support regional response efforts.

The emergency activation put a spotlight on Island Countys reliance on the Anacortes Water Treatment Plant, which treats potable water from the Skagit River in Mount Vernon. With river levels projected to peak over the 48 hours following the activation, maintaining water supply reliability became a primary focus for the EOC. “The Anacortes water treatment plant is expected to maintain operations with only limited interruptions, even with the projected flood levels. Out of an abundance of caution, the City of Oak Harbor is topping off our water reservoirs and preparing our limited groundwater backup supply,” said Public Works Director Steve Schuller.

Officials asked residents and businesses to temporarily reduce large water usage through Friday night to preserve system capacity. At the time of the activation no outages were anticipated and the system was operating normally. Communications Officer Magi Aguilar said teams were in close contact with partners in Island and Skagit counties and promised continued updates. “Our teams are monitoring conditions closely and are in constant communication with our partners in Island and Skagit counties. The City will continue to provide regular updates throughout the next few days via the City website and social media platforms. The next official EOC update is scheduled for 4:00 PM on December 10, 2025,” Aguilar said.

For residents, the event underscored policy and planning questions about regional infrastructure dependencies and emergency staffing resilience when municipal employees live in neighboring counties. Residents should monitor official city channels for further instructions and may direct media or information inquiries to Communications Officer Magi Aguilar at maguilar@oakharbor.org.