Days of heavy rainfall and high winds on Monday, caused by an atmospheric river – a huge cloud of moisture that stretches across the Pacific and the northwest – in Washington state caused extensive flooding and mudslides that forced evacuations and schools and part Interstate 5 closed.
The National Weather Service issued flood warnings for several rivers around West Washington that have rained almost continuously for about a week. Strong winds hit the region on Monday too. Gusts hit 60 mph (96 km / h) in several places, including a gust of 58 mph (93 km / h) at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.
More than 158,000 customers were temporarily without power on Monday afternoon in West Washington.
Later on Monday, Governor Jay Inslee declared a severe weather emergency in 14 western Washington counties and said the state emergency management department, with the assistance of the Washington National Guard, would coordinate all incident-related assistance.
A state of emergency was declared for the city of Hamilton on Sunday. The people there, about 80 miles northeast of Seattle, have been ordered to evacuate.
Cars and trailers were packed into the parking lot in front of the Red Cross evacuation center at Hamilton Baptist Church, where dozens of residents await the storm, the Skagit Valley Herald reported.
Skagit County officials compared this flood to severe flooding in 2009 when the Skagit and Samish Rivers flooded, damaging homes, farms and infrastructure.
As the water flowed down the Skagit River, people were warned of flooding in Sedro-Woolley, Burlington and Mount Vernon. Mount Vernon city officials recommended overnight evacuations for people living west of the Street Bridge division on Monday afternoon because of the risk of potential significant flooding.
South of the Canadian border in Sumas, Washington, officials said City Hall was flooded and the flood event looked like it hadn’t been seen since 1990.
“At this point there is no reasonably safe way to go to Bellingham without endangering yourself or others. Please do not drive through standing or rushing water, ”said the city police via Twitter.
Nicole Postma, who owns a coffee stand in Sumas and is president of the Sumas Chamber of Commerce, told the Bellingham Herald on Monday that people were nervous.
“We knew the tide was imminent, but we had no idea it was going to be,” she said.
MPs southwest of Sumas used a Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office ambulance to evacuate stranded residents in the Everson area, officials said on Twitter.
Bellingham saw record precipitation of 2.78 inches (7 centimeters) on Sunday, beating the previous daily record of 0.88 inches (2.2 centimeters) in 1998, according to the National Weather Service.
All schools in the Bellingham, Washington and adjacent counties were closed on Monday due to dangerous travel conditions. Mudslides closed part of Interstate 5 south of Bellingham on Monday afternoon, with three cars stuck in the rubble.
No one was seriously injured and the freeway was later closed in both directions overnight due to flooding and active landslides, State trooper Rocky Oliphant said on Twitter.
Caylon Coomes, of Bellingham, drove his truck and paddle board from his home near Lake Whatcom to some flooded city streets near the freeway on Monday.
“It looked pretty good out there (by the lake), but the road looks a little better,” he said. He met another man in a parking lot and they waded into the water in wetsuits, paddling past vehicles that were stuck in the tide.
Several highways have been closed in places on the Olympic Peninsula and the US Coast Guard helped local authorities evacuate people west of Forks, Washington. The agency said on Twitter that around 10 people were at risk and that no injuries had been reported.
A semi-trailer tipped over on the Deception Pass Bridge in strong winds and leaned against the railing on Monday, State Troopers said. According to the state police, the driver was able to get out.
Emergency officials warned that instead of driving through water on the road, people should expect to see water in low-lying roads and turn around. This water can move fast and be deeper than it appears and pose a serious hazard to people in vehicles.
Forecasters say conditions should improve by Tuesday after having rained more than six inches in parts of the region in the past few days.
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