Here are dispatches from the flood zones of Snohomish County early this afternoon from Herald writers Krista Kapralos, Jackson Holtz and Eric Stevick:
SNOHOMISH — It was business as usual at midday in downtown Snohomish. There was a festive atmosphere with crows gathered on First Street to watch the rising water.
Women with umbrellas walked their dogs in the rain. Men wearing bright rain jackets stared at the swift water.
All the shops were open. Even Todo Mexico restaurant, operating on an upper floor of building that was flooded below street level. A server at the restaurant even set out a sidewalk sign that advertised “Great river view.”
It took more than 11 hours for staff at Harvey Field in Snohomish to move more than 50 small private planes from their hangers to another part of the airstrip where the ground is 13 feet higher.
Some of the owners flew their planes to Arlington or to Paine Field in Everett.
Not far away, See Ye, 46, of Shoreline, came to look at the Snohomish River near where he rents a farm and grows flowers on Short School Road near Snohomish.
Standing on a dike looking out over the river, Ye was worried about his farm. “Stop rain; no more,” he said.
A day of reckoning near Granite Falls
GRANITE FALLS — Tuesday was a day of reckoning for residents of the Blue Spruce Grove neighborhood two miles northwest of Granite Falls.
The development is on the banks of the South Fork Stillaguamish River which flooded Monday.
There were tears in Jenny Skeltons eyes when she learned her family could be displaced for two months while her wood rambler is restored.
“In 40 years, this house never flooded,” she said.
A few houses down, Christy Glonek returned to find a silt covered pool table in her basement and two large chum salmon in her driveway.
“Weve been flooded before, but never like this,” she said.
Meanwhile …
… U.S. Forest Service employees were dispatched Tuesday to check for damage to roads and campgrounds. A report is expected later this week.
By noon Tuesday, that there were 163 people at the shelter at Stanwood High School and two people left at the shelter in the First Congregational Church in Monroe. No one was left at a Red Cross shelter at Granite Falls Middle School by midday Tuesday. The Red Cross regional office in Las Vegas is setting up a headquarters and sending 55 people to the local chapter, based in Everett, to help with flooding needs throughout Western Washington, said Kris Krischano, a spokesman for the American Red Cross Snohomish County Chapter.
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