Mudslides, Floods Swamp Washington

Heavy Rains, Melting Snow Force Thousands To Evacuate, Shuts Down Major Roads

(CBS/ AP)  Floods, mudslides and avalanches in the Pacific Northwest kept tens of thousands of people from their homes and stranded hundreds of trucks along the major highways that link Seattle's busy ports with markets around the country.

The flooding - some of the worst on record in Washington state - was touched off by a combination of heavy rain of 6 inches or more and a warm spell in the mid-40s that rapidly melted snow in the Cascade Mountains.

A state of emergency has been declared in nearly two dozen counties, reports CBS News correspondent John Blackstone.

A 20-mile stretch of Interstate 5, the state's major north-south freeway, was shut down between Olympia and the Oregon line, with one section under 3 feet of water. Avalanches closed Interstate 90, which cuts east from Seattle through the Cascades, along with the two other routes through the mountains. On Thursday, highway crews reopened one of those cross-state routes, U.S. Highway 2 across Stevens Pass.

Amtrak service and some freight trains were stopped as well.

Hundreds of truckers pulled their rigs off onto highway shoulders or packed truck stops as the bad weather bottled up nearly all freight in and around Seattle, costing the economy untold millions of dollars of day.

More than 30,000 people in western Washington were urged to evacuate their homes on Wednesday in low-lying areas from Bellingham near the Canadian border to the Kelso area near the Oregon line as rivers spilled over their banks and flooded some neighborhoods.

The stricken areas included such far-flung Seattle bedroom communities as Fife, Orting and Snohomish, but Seattle itself saw little flooding.

By Thursday afternoon, Orting officials told residents they could return to their homes.

Rescuers had used boats to evacuate scores of people from nursing homes. Fire trucks rolled through the streets, using loudspeakers to warn people to leave.

No serious injuries were reported.

"I think we're seeing an all-timer, or as bad as anyone has seen," said Rob Harper, a spokesman for the state Division of Emergency Management. "We just haven't seen this extent of flooding."

Most of the flooding rivers in Western Washington had crested by late Thursday and begun to fall, although major flooding continued on the Snohomish at the town of Snohomish, the Snoqualmie at Carnation in the Snoqualmie Valley and the Chehalis and Skookumchuck near Centralia, along I-5.

State Transportation Secretary Paula Hammond estimated the economic effect of just the I-5 shutdown at $4 million a day. A major storm 13 months ago closed the same stretch for four days.

Crews struggled to reopen highways, especially those leading to communities cut off by the flooding and avalanches.

In Orting, a town near Mount Rainier, Jamie Hicks used five pumps to try to clear the 2½ feet of water from his house, about 50 yards from the swollen Puyallup River.

"We're veterans at this," Hicks said as his son rowed a boat in front of the house. "You just pump it out."

In Snohomish, about 30 miles north of Seattle, a crowd watched as Robert Bishop and his roommates were rescued by boat from their two-story duplex. The home close to the Pilchuck River was nearly half underwater.

"I thought it was fine, but it went higher than I thought," said Bishop, 48, who waited out previous floods. "It was very scary."

Because of the closed highways, a truck traveling north from Portland, Ore., to Seattle - normally a journey of about 175 miles - would need to take a lengthy detour. Ten thousand trucks travel I-5 each day, and an additional 7,000 move freight across the Cascades.

A spokesman for the Port of Seattle said it was too early to gauge the cost of the storm. In 2008, the port took in 1.7 million 20-foot containers from China, Japan, South Korea and elsewhere. Most of that freight leaves the port by rail.

No freight or passenger trains were moving between Seattle and Portland, but trains were making it across the Cascade Range. About 60 trains travel daily between Portland and Seattle carrying freight and passengers, said Gus Melonas, a spokesman for Burlington Northern Santa Fe.

Some of the north-south freight was being rerouted through eastern Washington until tracks can reopen, Melonas said.

[poohbearcole]

wow, its so sad to hear about the flooding in washington, i live in iowa and we got hit hard this pasted june. my heart goes out to all of the people there. the proess for rebuilding is long and hard, but you will make it threw.

[ausus-2009]

Fahren451,

If it rains, somebody screams climate change. If it''s dry, the same. The same goes with hot and cold. If you have a look around the world, you will see that most of the world has been much cooler than average this past year or so. Maybe that is why the term global warming was altered to climate change.

Dire predictions of huge hurricanes were not fulfilled, Australia''s Great Barrier Reef did not die because the water temperature went down, not up. Ice is actually increasing in the Antarctic.

Storms have always happened and always will.

I''m sorry, I don''t buy climate change.

[observer2020]

Avigil2: This person has been posting "good Christian" postings for a very long time...changing the name as they go. Just ignore them and maybe one of these days, they''ll go away. I think they continuously post things like that to get a rise out of everyone...and unfortunately it works. Rubs my fur the wrong way all the time. Personally, I pray for people that build their houses in places like this.

[avigil2]

God sends these thing to punish sinners. I dont feel sorry for any of them because they sinned. -Posted by mrs_zambesi

JESUS CHRIST! People like this really aggrivate the hell out of me (perhaps that''s their intentions). Weather patterns play a large role in such catastrophes. Not because people sin. Please get a clue. And yes, I still believe in God.

[observer2020]

What part (large part) of the problem is that they continue to deforest the land and also put up houses in the deforested land. The trees are a natural block and hold for land that has been saturated. The views from these new houses is fantastic, but there''s nothing left to hold up the saturated land...so it slides down the mountain. Gravity is the problem. If we find somehow to make the gravity less...that would fix the problems. First part of my post was serious...the second wasn''t, it was supposed to be funny. Not like our multi-personality so-called "Good Christian" poster. :)

[docpeter1953]

God sends these thing to punish sinners. I dont feel sorry for any of them because they sinned.

Posted by mrs_zambesi at 08:50 AM : Jan 09, 2009
_____________________

Ah she changed her name again, use to be, well I can''t remember all the names she has gone by in the past. Maybe she has a multiple personality disorder. Think I will stick with my OCD of hand washing, at least it is clean and people friendly.

[fahren451]

Climate change anyone? This extreme weather has and will become more frequent.