Flooding along the Snohomish River to recede today
Published 1:30 am Thursday, November 23, 2017
Update Friday, 5:30 a.m.: In Monroe, the Snohomish River crested at 11 p.m. Thursday and was expected to fall below flood stage late Friday morning, according to the National Weather Service. In Snohomish, the river was to crest around 8 a.m. Friday and fall below flood stage Friday night.
SULTAN — Communities in east Snohomish County saw seasonal flooding on Thanksgiving Day, as waters receded along the Stillaguamish River to the north.
Roads were closed, but there were no reported evacuations.
Warm temperatures caused more rain to fall in the mountains, instead of snow, feeding the rivers. Though the worst of the wet weather had passed, the Snohomish River was expected to stay high Friday with moderate flooding in Snohomish and Monroe.
“Obviously it takes a little while for the water to run out,” said Mike McFarland, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. “The front’s through, so that will allow the rivers to start coming down.”
The Snohomish River at Monroe was forecast to crest around 3 a.m. Friday. The river was expected to remain above flood stage in Snohomish until Friday evening.
The Skykomish River near Gold Bar reached 2.5 feet above flood stage on Thursday afternoon, but was on its way down by the evening.
The Stillaguamish River had dropped after flooding on Wednesday and was expected to stay there for now.
The river conditions were brought on by heavy rainfall and melting snow.
To the north, the Skagit River saw its highest levels in 11 years.
In the 72 hours leading up to Thursday afternoon, mountain areas such as Verlot and Spada Lake saw about 6 inches of rain, McFarland said. Gauges at Paine Field measured nearly 1.6 inches during that time, which is not unusual for this time of year. The rain combined with higher-than-normal temperatures to make the rivers swell. The snow level climbed to around 7,000 feet during the daytime.
Conditions were forecast to clear Friday before a smaller system arrives Saturday night.
Flooding led to road closures in north and east Snohomish County.
Portions of Marine Drive and Pioneer Highway and Old Highway 99 North were closed in the Stanwood area because of water over the roads. High Bridge and Tualco roads near Monroe also were shut down. So was a stretch of 100th Street SE and Lincoln Avenue in Snohomish as well as Mann Road near Sultan.
Noah Haglund: 425-339-3465; nhaglund@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @NWhaglund.
