Record flooding threatens Washington as more heavy rain pounds the Northwest

Residents packed up and prepared to flee rising rivers in western Washington state Wednesday as a new wave of heavy rain swept into a region still reeling from a storm that triggered rescues and road closures a day earlier.

In the Pacific Northwest, an atmospheric river was swelling rivers toward record levels, with major flooding expected in some areas including the Skagit River, a major agricultural valley north of Seattle. Dozens of vehicles were backed up at a sandbag-filling station in the town of Mount Vernon as authorities warned residents within the river's floodplain to be ready to evacuate.

“We’re preparing for what increasingly appears to be a worst-case scenario here," Mount Vernon Mayor Peter Donovan said.

In the Mount Rainier foothills southeast of Seattle, Pierce County sheriff’s deputies 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, including a car rammed into the metal barrier on the side of the road.

Officials also closed a mountainous section of U.S. 2 due to rocks, trees and mud. The state transportation department said there were no detours available and no estimated time for reopening.

Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson declared a statewide emergency Wednesday. “Lives will be at stake in the coming days,” he said.

Skagit County officials were preparing to evacuate 75,000 people, said Robert Ezelle, director of the Washington Military Department's emergency management division.

Gent Welsh, adjutant general of the Washington National Guard, said hundreds of Guard members will be sent to help communities.

Flooding rivers could break records

The Skagit River is expected to crest at roughly 47 feet (14.3 meters) in the mountain town of Concrete early Thursday, and roughly 41 feet (12 meters) in Mount Vernon early Friday.

Those are both “record-setting forecasts by several feet,” Skagit County officials said, adding that upriver communities should evacuate to high ground as soon as possible and that those living in the floodplain should be prepared to evacuate.

Flooding from the river long plagued Mount Vernon, the largest city in the county with some 35,000 residents. In decades past, residents would form sandbagging brigades when floods threatened, but businesses were often inundated. 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 concerned that older levees could fail.

“We’ve seen our floodwall in action and we know it works to a large degree,” said Ellen Gamson, executive director of the Mount Vernon Downtown Association. “But the concern about that kind of pressure on the levy and dike system is real. It could potentially be catastrophic.”

Gamson said many business owners were renting tables to place their inventory higher off the floor. Sheena Wilson, who owns a floral shop downtown, said she stacked sandbags by the doors and cleared items off the floor.

“If the water comes in above table height I’ve got bigger problems than my merchandise,” she said.

Jake Lambly, 45, added sandbags, tested water pumps and moved valuables to the top floor of the home he shares with his 19-year-old son. Lambly said he was concerned about damage in his neighborhood, where people “are just on the cusp of whether or not we can be homeowners."

“This is my only asset,” he said from his front porch. “I got nothing else.”

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Cities respond to flooding

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.”

Authorities in Washington have knocked on doors to warn residents of imminent flooding in certain neighborhoods, and evacuated a mobile home park along the Snohomish River. The city of Snohomish issued an emergency proclamation, while workers in Auburn, south of Seattle, installed temporary flood control barriers along the White River.

Climate change has been linked to some intense rainfall. Scientists say that without specific study they cannot directly link a single weather event to climate change, but in general it’s responsible for more intense and more frequent extreme storms, droughts, floods and wildfires.

Another storm system is expected to bring more rain starting Sunday, Rademacher said. “The pattern looks pretty unsettled going up to the holidays.”