Water damage restoration in Renton, WA

In December 2025, after days of atmospheric-river rain, the Cedar River through Renton reached its highest level on record. It peaked at 18.25 feet on December 11, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, beating the 17.13 feet set in November 1990. Homes along the river flooded.

Afterward, the city set about fortifying the road along Maple Valley Highway and rebuilding the Cedar River Trail's riverbank.

The last mile and a quarter of the river through Renton is lined by levees, protecting downtown, Boeing and the Renton Municipal Airport. King County and the National Weather Service both publish live readings for the Cedar River at Renton. The Weather Service expects minor flooding along the river in Renton from 13 feet.

If river water got into your house, treat it as contaminated — it's handled like a sewage cleanup, not ordinary drying. A standard home or renter's policy generally doesn't cover flooding from a river.

Some homes around Renton are on a water-and-sewer district instead of the city. If your sewer bill comes from a district, call the district first — the ones in this area ask customers to call before hiring a plumber, because the problem may be on their side of the line, not yours.

Since January 2025, stormwater from 260 acres of the Renton Highlands has run to the city's Monroe Avenue facility. There it's cleaned and soaked into the ground, recharging groundwater and feeding the Cedar River. It replaced an old gravel pit that used to take the overflow in heavy rain. The city calls it the largest stormwater infiltration facility in Western Washington.

It deals with the streets. Water that gets into a house through a roof, a wall or the foundation still needs extracting and drying, and a wet crawl space doesn't dry on its own.