Residents in the South King County City of Pacific were still pumping out water from their homes and backyards Saturday afternoon.

Many were also still fuming about how little notice they had of the oncoming floodwaters, which poured into their homes and driveways Thursday after being purposefully released from the Mud Mountain Dam on the White River.

“I’m furious,” said 68-year-old Roberta Hales, who was busy tearing ruined pieces of carpeting and drywall out of her home and piling them in her front yard. “Nobody told us. I came home at 7 p.m. and in an hour and a half we were walking around in 4 feet of water.”

County Executive Ron Sims and Pacific Mayor Richard Hildreth went door-to-door to distribute cleanup kits in Hales’ neighborhood Saturday, where parts of many roads were still underwater.

“They’re a little late,” said Hales, who lives in the hard-hit White River Estates housing subdivision.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began releasing water Thursday from the Mud Mountain Dam to make room for more downpour, spokeswoman Patricia Graesser said Saturday. The peak amount released was 11,700 cubic feet of water per second – the same amount released during the flood of November 2006 without causing significant damage, she said.

“We had released these flows in the past without these impacts,” Graesser said. “When we found out this was happening, we slowed the flow.”

“Nobody could have anticipated this,” Sims said in between visits to Pacific residents’ flooded homes. “We had Stage IV flooding on every river. We’ve never seen anything like this before.”

The Corps of Engineers notified the King County Office of Emergency Management about 1 p.m. Thursday that it would be releasing a flow of water that exceeded flood level, Graesser said.

The county’s Flood Warning Center in turn notified the Pacific Police Department, said Ken Zwieg, a program manager at the center.

“The information that we passed along is the releases would be about the same as they were in 2006,” Zwieg said. “I think the feeling was that there would be the same impacts.”

That’s what Pacific officials prepared for, said Mayor Hildreth.

He estimated Saturday that the city will have to spend about $5 million on flood recovery, which will include flushing its storm system during the next two weeks.

Steve Bleifuhs, section manager of King County’s river and flood-plain management unit, said the unexpected flooding on the White River could be due to high inflow from overflooding creeks and streams.

The river also has high levels of moving sediment, which could have raised the bed level in certain areas and caused it to flood more easily, Bleifuhs said.

“It’s going to take some investigation to determine for certain what caused this,” he said.

“I don’t know if we’ll ever hear anyone take the blame for this,” said Pacific resident Brian Johnson, whose living room got soaked in nearly a foot of water. “I sure would hate to find out this was just a man-made mistake.”

Melissa Santos: 253-552-7058

MEETING TUESDAY

What: Public meeting to discuss how Pacific residents can sign up for emergency flood assistance

When: 5 p.m. Tuesday

Where: Pacific City Hall, 100 Third Ave. S.E.