Pacific Northwest still underwater

By M&C US News Dec 5, 2007, 16:41 GMT

The rainfall has eased, but the runoff is still swelling the rivers and streams in Washington and Oregon.

The Chehalis River crested at nearly 10 feet over flood stage Tuesday. At its highest, the river was roughly six inches higher than the previous record set in February 1996.

With I-5 closed between Portland and Seattle, state officials were recommending a lengthy detour — Interstate 90 across the Cascade mountains and down U.S. 97 through central Washington to the Oregon border — a route that roughly doubles the three-hour trip from Seattle to Portland, Ore.

On the edge of downtown Centralia, waist-high muddy water covered streets as police used small boats to get to houses in flooded neighborhoods.

Homes in downtown Centralia,Wash. rest in a lake of mud after flood waters from the Chehalis River inundated Lewis County.

More than 300 people had to be rescued in Lewis County, many being plucked off their rooftops by helicopter, Sheriff Steve Mansfield said.

Chehalis City Manager Merlin MacReynold said between 70 and 80 people had to be rescued in the city limits alone. He called the flooding worse than the 1996 deluge, which is still legendary in the area.

"It's larger, it crested higher, it happened a lot faster," MacReynold said.

Local television channel KING5 reports that in north Mason County, northwest of Olympia, more than 200 people were reported stranded but emergency crews have reached them, make sure all were OK and dropped off supplies, Mason County Fire District 2 officials said.

Gov. Gregoire declared a state of emergency on Monday and said she would seek federal money to repair the damage.

"It's pretty devastating, and you can only imagine what it was like for the people trying to get out," Gregoire said Tuesday as she toured the flood damage.

Coast Guard crews continued to pluck stranded residents from flooded areas of Western Washington on Tuesday.

Two hikers were found dead Tuesday from an avalanche in the Cascade Mountains, King County sheriff's officials said. The hikers were killed as heavy rain atop heavy snow increased the avalanche danger.

A man in Mason County died Monday night when he was buried in a building hit by a mudslide, said Kyle Herman, a spokesman for the Washington State Emergency Management Division.

Officials said two more men died in Grays Harbor County: one in Aberdeen who was hit by a falling tree as he was trying to clear another downed tree, and one in Montesano who apparently relied on oxygen equipment that stopped working after electricity was lost.

The latest of three storms slammed into the state on Monday, hitting hardest on the Olympic Peninsula, Kitsap County and the southwestern corner of the state, leaving at least 73,000 Western Washington residents without power. More than 50,000 were still in the dark Tuesday.

Colder, drier weather was forecast for the rest of the week.

The storm overwhelmed a number of sewage treatment plants, allowing tons of raw sewage to spew into Puget Sound.

Mudslides halted Amtrak passenger train service between Portland and Vancouver, British Columbia, at least through Wednesday.

Storm damage hotlines

Residents displaced by storm damage this week can call the following storm damage hotlines in the following counties:

Clallam             360-417-2305

Grays Harbor   360-249-3911

Jefferson           360-385-9368

King                 800-523-5044

Lewis               360-740-1152

Mason              360-427-7535

Pierce               866-798-6363

Snohomish        425-388-5060