The City of Fife opened its emergency operations center early Wednesday afternoon to monitor rising Puyallup River waters, which were causing only isolated problems at the time.

Within a few hours, Mayor Barry Johnson had declared a state of emergency and officials were encouraging some 6,000 people who live south of Interstate 5 to get to higher ground by 5 p.m.

The city arranged temporary shelter for those forced from their homes. Members of the Puyallup Tribe of Indians could go to the Fife Emerald Queen Casino. Others were welcome at Surprise Lake Middle School, 2001 Milton Way.

Hours before the evacuation, the raging river was already making Alice Hammontree nervous.

Hammontree, 68, lives off North Levee Road across from the river. Her neighborhood came close to flooding in November 2006. Residents there were among those in a larger area notified to get to higher ground. She didn’t evacuate then because her elderly mother lives with her.

But by late afternoon Wednesday, Hammontree had evacuated her 100-year-old mother to a relative’s house on South Hill. She and her husband, Bill, were planning to stay put.

“I’ve stuck it out two times before,” said Bill Hammontree, 70. “I’m going to stick it out again.”

In October, Fife police went door to door in the Radiance and Saddle Creek subdivisions with information on what to do in case of rising waters, a power outage and other emergencies.

Radiance and Saddle Creek are proposed to be to added to the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s flood zone.

FEMA is remapping flood plains, which could affect Fife dramatically. The percentage of the city in flood plains could soar from 10 percent to 80 percent, according to FEMA’s maps.

That increase is due to decertification of levees on the lower Puyallup River. A county task force is studying how to improve flood protection in the area.

Steve Maynard: 253-597-8647