SILVANA — Aside from the hovercraft rescue of a motorist in the flood waters on Highway 530 on Nov. 13, the weekend flooding in Silvana was relatively routine, Silvana Fire Chief Keith Strotz said.

“We had to come get a driver who got stuck in their vehicle Friday night,” Strotz said. “Which is why you do not drive through water, because you have no idea how deep it might be, and the current can be swifter than you expect.”

Strotz and his fire personnel reported few other problems, since they took the time to warn local residents of the forecast flood well before it arrived.

“We do go door-to-door to tell people, ‘If you need to get out, do it now,'” said Strotz, who noted that Fire Stations 94 and 95, as well as the one in Silvana, all had sand and bags in stock. “We have plenty of sandbags available. We’ve had so many floods in Silvana, though, that our locals are used to them by now.”

It’s a measure of how accustomed Silvana has become to flooding that Strotz described the weekend’s floods as “not bad,” even though they went from moderate to major for a short while.

“The Stillaguamish River can come up fast, but it doesn’t tend to stay up for long,” said Strotz, who recalled that Silvana suffered a single minor flood last year, after a couple of years without any flooding at all. “What I’m more concerned with is what’s going to happen on Tuesday.”

High winds are forecast for Nov. 17, which could bring down trees and power lines.

“With as saturated as our soils are, our trees can go over much more easily,” Strotz said. “And you should always avoid approaching downed power lines, since you don’t know whether they’re hot.”

Strotz plans to have extra fire personnel on hand for Tuesday to protect against the worst.