Severe flooding in Pacific Northwest triggers rescues and road closures: "Lives will be at stake in the coming days"
Days of unrelenting heavy rain has triggered flooding, rescues and road closures in Washington state, with Gov. Bob Ferguson declaring a statewide emergency and warning that "lives will be at stake in the coming days."
Some residents have already been ordered to higher ground as the state sees some of its worst flooding in decades. Skagit County, a major agricultural region north of Seattle, ordered those within the Skagit River's floodplain to evacuate.
"Catastrophic flooding is likely" in many areas and the state is requesting water rescue teams and boats, Ferguson said on X Wednesday night. He said the National Water Prediction Service was forecasting 18 major floods and 15 moderate floods across the state.
Hundreds of Guard members will be sent to help communities, said Gent Welsh, adjutant general of the Washington National Guard.
Tens of thousands of residents in western Washington could face evacuation orders when another round of heavy rain drops on the region Thursday, threatening to bring catastrophic flooding as rivers near historic levels.
The governor said that even after the water recedes, there will be a long, difficult road ahead.
"The impact on Washingtonians is significant now, and it's going to be significant in the coming days," Ferguson said. "And that is an understatement."
Harrison Rademacher, a meteorologist with the weather service in Seattle, described the atmospheric river soaking the region as "a jet stream of moisture" stretching across the Pacific Ocean "with the nozzle pushing right along the coast of Oregon and Washington."
Another storm system is expected to bring more rain starting Sunday.
"The pattern looks pretty unsettled going up to the holidays," Rademacher said.
Rescues amid flooding
Pierce County sheriff's deputies on Wednesday rescued people at an RV park in Orting, including helping one man in a Santa hat wade through waist-deep water. Part of the town was ordered to evacuate over concerns about the Puyallup River's extremely high levels and upstream levees.
A landslide blocked part of Interstate 90 east of Seattle, with photos from Eastside Fire & Rescue showing vehicles trapped by tree trunks, branches, mud and standing water. Officials also closed a mountainous section of U.S. 2 due to rocks, trees and mud.
More than 17,000 customers in Washington had lost electricity by Wednesday night, according to the tracking site PowerOutage.us.
One volunteer, Brandon Hunt, said he helped people who were waving their hands on their front door and didn't know what to do. They didn't know if they could drive through water, he said, and he helped them get out of their yard and to safety.
As of Wednesday night, 4 to 6 inches of rain had fallen around the Cascade Mountains in 24 hours, while the Olympic Mountains saw almost 7 inches, according to the National Weather Service.
Flooding rivers could break records
The Skykomish River crested at 24 feet about an hour northeast of Seattle, reaching its highest level since 2006 and nine feet above flood state, CBS News' Carter Evans reported.
The Skagit River is expected to crest at roughly 47 feet in the mountain town of Concrete early Thursday, and roughly 41 feet in Mount Vernon early Friday.
"We feel very confident that we can handle a 'normal flood,' but no one really knows what a 41, 42 foot river looks like south of Mount Vernon," Darrin Morrison, a commissioner for Dike District 3 in Skagit County, said during a public meeting Wednesday night.
The county was closing non-essential government services on Thursday, including all district and superior court services.
Flooding from the river has long plagued Mount Vernon, the largest city in the county with some 35,000 residents. Flooding in 2003 displaced hundreds of people.
The city completed a floodwall in 2018 that helps protect the downtown. It passed a major test in 2021, when the river crested near record levels.
But the city is on high alert. The historic river levels expected Friday could top the wall, and some are worried that older levees could fail.
"It could potentially be catastrophic," said Ellen Gamson, executive director of the Mount Vernon Downtown Association.
Jake Lambly added sandbags, tested water pumps and moved valuables to the top floor of the home he shares with his 19-year-old son.
"This is my only asset," he said Wednesday from his front porch. "I got nothing else."