CENTRALIA — State officials began reopening Washington’s major highways on Friday as floodwaters receded and road crews plowed away mud, snow and debris. But flooding continued on a handful of major rivers, and residents of some low-lying areas were only beginning to tackle the cleanup of their sodden homes.
Flooding, mudslides and avalanches began closing highways and driving more than 30,000 people from their homes Wednesday as a warm, wet storm blew across the state, bringing a combination of heavy rain and rapid snowmelt in the Cascade Mountains.
Gov. Chris Gregoire, who toured flooded areas Friday, gave what she called a very preliminary estimate of $125 million in damage to roads, buildings and other structures.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters joined the tour, announcing $2 million in initial federal aid.
Gregoire said she also spoke by phone with President-elect Barack Obama, who assured her that aid to the state would be seamless during the transition to his administration.
High water closed I-5 at Centralia, about halfway between Seattle and Portland, Ore., late Wednesday, but flooding wasn’t as bad as officials had feared. One dike on the Chehalis River was about an inch away from being overwhelmed when the river crested late Thursday night, said Don Wagner, a regional administrator for the state Department of Transportation.
“Another inch of water and we could have had a different story,” he said. “We dodged a bullet.”
In flooding just 13 months ago, about a mile of the state’s major north-south freeway was under as much as 10 feet of water in the low-lying area south of Olympia. This year, the deepest water measured about 3 feet, Wagner said.
The state opened the freeway at noon Friday to escort long lines of freight trucks through the reopened areas to see how the roadway would react to the weight after having its foundations soaked.
I-90 and U.S. 2 reopened Thursday. U.S. 12 through White Pass reopened Thursday to local traffic only, but a section was closed again Friday for slide removal.
In Carnation, Bob Marcey watched with binoculars Friday as the water receded from the home where he and his family had to be rescued Wednesday.
“It felt like the world was coming to the end. But right now I have the biggest sigh of relief I’ve ever felt,” said Marcey.
Freight train service returned to normal Friday on north-south tracks in Western Washington, said Gus Melonas, a spokesman for Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway, after crews removed mud and debris along the lines.
Limited Amtrak passenger train service both north and south of Seattle will resume this afternoon. Normal service was expected to resume Sunday.
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