Two Everett flower farms run by Hmong families lost crops worth tens of thousands of dollars in the December 2025 floods.

Seven months later, their owners face diverging paths: one is rebuilding under a new name, the other is weighing a first-ever land sale.

Both women spoke to the Seattle Times in a feature published Saturday, July 26, offering the first detailed look at how the flooding reshaped their livelihoods.

Cathy Moul, 26, owner of Cathy's Garden, said her farm sat underwater for nearly two months after the flooding that began Dec. 8, 2025. Tulips, irises, daffodils, and peonies she and her mother Xee Yang had just planted were destroyed.

"We spent close to $30,000 worth on those flowers, and for it to be like, wiped away," Moul told the Seattle Times. "I was freaking out."

Moul took over the business from Yang, 50, the year before the floods.

She had been working as a project manager at a smart home automation company before deciding to continue the family operation.

Despite the losses, Moul has kept the farm going, renaming it Cathy's Garden with her mother's encouragement and planting new varieties for the season ahead.

Yang was hospitalized in April 2026 with severe anemia and needed a blood transfusion, according to the Seattle Times.

Since then, Moul has managed most of the farm work alone while taking her mother to doctor's appointments several times a week.

Down the road, Yeng Lee Cha, 67, faces a different calculation. The December floods destroyed one of Cha's greenhouses, crushed another, and wiped out about half her peonies across one to two acres. Some of those plants were 8 to 10 years old.

Buckets, trays, tables, and a portable toilet washed across her property.

Cha, who arrived in Washington in 1979 after fleeing Laos, has farmed for decades and sells flowers at Pike Place Market. She works alone, leaving before dawn for the market and returning at night to pick flowers by headlamp, because her husband, who has Parkinson's disease, can no longer help. None of her six children plan to take over.

For the first time, Cha is considering selling part of her Everett farm at her son's urging. She told the Seattle Times it may take a few years, but she believes she will sell.

The two farms are part of a broader pattern. The Hmong Association of Washington surveyed 36 Hmong farmers after the December floods and found estimated losses ranging from $25,000 to $150,000 per farm, according to the Seattle Times. Hmong farmers make up nearly 60% of farm vendors at Pike Place Market, the paper reported.

FEMA made disaster assistance available for Snohomish County in April 2026.

Whether either farm applied for aid is unclear. The Snohomish River broke its flood record on Dec. 11, 2025, surging nearly a foot above the previous high mark, and Gov. Bob Ferguson declared a statewide emergency as atmospheric rivers prompted evacuation orders for more than 100,000 residents and damaged nearly 4,000 homes statewide.