'Depressed, stressed, and under the weather.' Washington families take refuge at emergency flood shelters

Hundreds of families across Washington state have had to leave their homes because of catastrophic river flooding. Many have found a warm place to sleep at emergency, congregate shelters.

Jovani Burke just turned 8 this month, though he can't always remember what day exactly. “My birthday…. what day was it?” he tried to recall. His mom, Ashonna Burke, helped him out.

“December 6,” she said.

“December 6, right,” Jovani said proudly. The 8-year-old loves to bake. He even baked his own birthday cake this year — chocolate with icing. Ashonna Burke has another son who is 3.

She and her children are sleeping at a Red Cross shelter in Auburn, about an hour south of Seattle.

Earlier this week they evacuated their apartment because of the flooding White River, along with hundreds of others in the area.

“My landlord just knocked on the door and just said, ‘You guys need to leave now, because you have kids,’” she said. “So, we just left.”

RELATED: Hundreds evacuate in south King County as flood barrier fails

The family of three are sleeping on cots in a large gym inside the Auburn Community and Event Center with about 80 other people. The shelter has room for hundreds of additional people during the day.

On Wednesday afternoon, Burke and her children were walking their dog outside the center. The Red Cross does allow dogs inside the shelter, but not all breeds.

That means the Burke’s pitbull, Heaven, has to sleep in their car out in the parking lot.

“We’re depressed, stressed,” Burke said, her two kids pulling at her jacket, “and a little under the weather.”

The Red Cross says this shelter has taken in a lot of people from Auburn and nearby Pacific and about half of them are kids like Jovani and his little brother.

“We've seen a lot of families go there,” said Jonathan Glover, communications manager for the City of Auburn. “We've got a couple pregnant women.”

At least one child is 6 weeks old, according to Kristin Goodwillie, a spokesperson for the American Red Cross.

There are 10 shelters open for flood victims in Washington. They opened last week when multiple rivers flooded, some setting new records.

RELATED: Western Washington flood resources: Where to find shelter and supplies

South of Seattle, King County officials say two flood barriers failed, pouring water into neighborhoods. The Red Cross says so far they’ve logged 1,140 overnight stays since the weather emergency started.

Many families brought their kids to a shelter because daycares have been impacted by the floods, Goodwillie said.

“Some families have five kids,” said Joy Osstyn, who’s also staying at the Auburn shelter. “We have newborns in there. They're just trying to get cribs and all kinds of diapers and supplies.”

Osstyn came to this shelter last week when the flood water started to creep toward her apartment doorstep in Auburn. She said parents are getting hit the hardest.

“They're worrying about Christmas coming up and how to make ends meet,” she said, “and not knowing what you're going to go back home to — if you're even going to have a home.”

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She said inside the shelter, people have been helping each other, like taking turns watching kids when parents start feeling overwhelmed.

Osstyn has kids, too, but she sent them to stay with family before the floods arrived. Now, she's trying to find a way to get to them and figure out where they'll go next.

That's a problem for hundreds of families in the state, where the rain and wind continues this week.

“You’re just taking that chance that hopefully wherever you go, it’s going to be a safe space,” Osstyn said.