Hamilton Sivula and Eric Bruchman filled sandbags Thursday morning in West Richland in the face of rising floodwaters on the Yakima River.

“I saw the water line this morning, and I got pretty scared,” Sivula said as he leaned on the shovel for a moment while other family members cinched up the bags at the Hamilton Road fire station.

They filled 110 bags Wednesday at a West Richland fire station and planned to fill 110 more to build a 65-foot-long wall, about four bags high.

Residents along the lower Yakima River between Benton City and Richland watched the rising water with trepidation.

Overnight into Thursday, the river rose above its banks and is expected to crest at 15.8 feet deep — the highest level in nearly 30 years. It’s usually at 5 feet and by Thursday it was closer to 13 feet

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