Storm will cost us millions

A key link across south Snohomish County is expected to be closed for up to five weeks as state workers make millions of dollars in emergency repairs because of flood damage.

A 25-foot-deep hole has formed beneath Seattle Hill Road, said Janice Fahning, a state Department of Transportation engineer. The hole, which was 40 feet long and 18 feet across, already spans half the roadway, and was still growing Tuesday evening.

It is the transportation department's biggest flood-related road problem in Snohomish, King, Skagit and Whatcom counties, Fahning said.

"This is the highest priority in the region," she said.

On Tuesday, the state threw a team of more than 30 people at fixing Seattle Hill Road. They mapped out a plan to get environmental permits, buy supplies and hire a contractor. They hope to start construction early next week.

It will cost up to $5 million to fix the road, which on a typical day carries some 9,000 vehicles, Fahning said.

The road is closed between 125th Street SE and 60th Avenue SE. People who live in the area have access to their property. The road is off-limits to through traffic and commuters who use the route to shave up to 10 minutes off trips to and from Snohomish.

Traffic is being detoured to Cathcart Way and Lowell-Larimer Road.

The soil under Seattle Hill Road collapsed after water began to back up behind the road and overwhelmed the capacity of an 18-inch-diameter culvert. Fahning said the state still is trying to figure out what size replacement culvert to use.

The road is unsafe to drive over or to even walk on, said Meghan Soptich, a DOT spokeswoman. It will remain closed until repairs are finished. Concrete barriers are being put in place to keep vehicles out. There also will be state workers on-site around the clock to keep people away.

A motorcycle rider went around barricades and drove across the weakened road Tuesday morning.

"We really want to stress to drivers that, although it looks like only part of the shoulder is gone, there's a hole under the road that goes all the way to the centerline," Soptich said.

Any driver who passes a road-closed sign could be subject to a $411 ticket, said Rebecca Hover, a spokeswoman for the Snohomish County Sheriff's Department.

Across Snohomish County on Tuesday, many roads were emerging relatively undamaged from major urban flooding.

An eastbound lane closure on Highway 522 just south of the King County line threatened the commute toward Monroe on Tuesday evening, but the problem was eased when the roadway was reopened fully at 5 p.m., said Erin Bogenschutz, a DOT spokeswoman.

Sounder commuter rail service won't resume between Everett and Seattle until Thursday at the earliest, said Linda Robson, a spokeswoman for Sound Transit.

"There was a new mudslide (Monday), which started that 48-hour clock over again," Robson said.

Railroad rules require that all passenger rail service be halted until two days after a mudslide, she said. The hope was to resume service this morning, two days after the first mudslide washed over the tracks Sunday.

Sections of more than 30 lesser-used roads were closed in unincorporated Snohomish County on Tuesday. The county still hasn't been able to repair all the damage to roads caused by last year's storms.

"It gave us more work to do," said Jack Lemke, a lead worker for Snohomish County Public Works.

North of Index, county road crews were working Tuesday to clear a clogged drainage pipe on the Index-Galena Road.

Water backed up and was rushing across the rural road, which was badly damaged during last year's floods.

Maple Road at Ash Way was the only remaining flood closure in Lynnwood on Tuesday, Lynnwood Fire spokeswoman Marybeth O'Leary said. More than a dozen roads were closed Monday.

Roads were reopened in Mountlake Terrace and a public works crew was out trying to determine whether the floodwaters caused lasting damage. Eight roads were shut down Monday, including 220th Street SW, a major thoroughfare through the city.

Edmonds officials closed a stretch of Olympic View Drive just west of 76th Avenue W., Edmonds Public Works director Noel Miller said. He expected repairs to cost up to $1 million and take a month.

Mudslides shut N. Meadowdale Road east of 75th Avenue W., and 104th Avenue W., two blocks north of the county line between Firdale and Woodway. Those streets could be opened by the end of the week, he said.

Crews aren't sure when they can reopen 190th Street SW between Olympic View Drive and 94th Avenue W., he said.



Herald writers Jackson Holtz, Bill Sheets and Yoshiaki Nohara contributed to this report.