As the rainy season comes on, the message has turned from drops into a steady patter – have an emergency plan, make an emergency kit, buy flood insurance – and do it now.

A message that was driven home Thursday at the home of Riverview Drive residents Steven and Betty Van Gasken on the banks of the Green River, where King County Councilwoman Julia Patterson and Council Chair Dow Constantine signed a proclamation declaring October Flood Awareness Month.

Despite flood protection efforts that include the county’s shoring up of 117 miles of the levee system and the work now under way at Howard Hanson Dam, Patterson said, the risk is there.

“We have to be very clear about the fact that significant flooding can still occur on the Green River,” said Patterson, chair of the King County Flood Control District (KCFCD).

“People who live in flood-prone areas must be ready for rising water levels and must develop a family-flood-preparedness plan,” said Constantine.

At issue is the river’s potential to cause significant and widespread flooding during the rainy season owing to damage to the right abutment of the dam, which has compromised its holding capacity. The structure sustained damage in January when it held back a record amount of water from the valley, home to hundreds of thousands of people and more than 3,000 businesses.

The Army Corps of Engineers has hired contractors to complete a temporary fix, and the KCFCD has accelerated work rebuilding levees and other flood-prevention structures along the Green River and in other watersheds.

John Campion, major accounts executive for Puget Sound Energy, explained some of PSE’s preparations.

“The valley poses unique challenges in our distribution system, so we’ve had a large team preparing for this flood so that if a flood does occur so we can minimize outages and restore service as quickly as possible,” Campion said.

Constantine later toured the Van Gasken home to demonstrate steps all people who live in flood plains need to take to get ready for the possibility of high water, a demonstration that included assembling a “to go” kit for evacuations, supplies needed at home, and how to reduce damage to possessions.

Betty Van Gasken has seen what the river can do.

“I was born and raised here and have seen a lot of floods here in the valley. This used to be just pastures when I was a kid, and it got wet,” Van Gasken said.

Indeed, the Van Gaskens have already taken steps to secure their financial records and moved furniture off the floor.

“I bought nine plastic tubs – some small, some big – to put our photos in, because those are our treasure,” Betty Van Gasken said. “As far as furniture, we’ve already gotten rid of our piano…”

Auburn Mayor Pete Lewis, watching the river flow by and fishermen land salmon on the opposite bank, said everybody is hoping for the best but preparing for the worst.

“Here on the banks of a peaceful river in the fall we hope that we will have a quiet season, a time of little rain, but we will stand together as we are doing today in the eventuality that we have to meet an emergency situation,” Lewis said.