City of Issaquah staff are monitoring the east fork of Issaquah Creek after last week’s heavy rains.

The rains, which caused Issaquah Creek to enter flood warning Dec. 9, were the first instance of extreme weather to hit the Confluence Park fork since it completed a $1 million habit restoration in August. That project widened and redirected the creek to make it more hospitable to salmon runs. Crews also installed wooden debris on the shore and in the creek bed to protect against erosion and reconstruct the natural terrain lost to the local coal and logging industry.

Some of that work was eroded by water flowing high and fast through the creek during the flood warning. But the city won’t rush to redo its work, a city spokesperson said.

“The creek is quite high-energy and we’re waiting for flows to calm down so we can see how the stream is adjusting to its new floodplain,” said Autumn Monahan, the assistant to the city administrator. “For the most part, we won’t try to fix the creek to make it look like pre-flood conditions, because the creek is trying to stabilize itself into a different pattern.”

The city is considering, but has not determined, whether staff will place more logs in the creek in summer, Monahan said.

The fork reconstruction was the midway point of Confluence Park work under the city park bond approved by voters in 2006. Mayor Fred Butler announced the city would begin work on a pedestrian bridge spanning the creek in 2016, when he presented his preliminary budget in October.

City staff solicited citizen input on artists’ renderings of the bridge in November and early December.