Floods’ worst ‘yet to come’

Record flooding may sweep into Snohomish County river valleys today, causing widespread damage and driving hundreds from their homes.

“If the forecast holds, the Snohomish River Valley will look like a giant lake. It will flood deeper than it’s ever been flooded before,” said Vaughn Collins, the county’s hydraulic engineer.

Floodwaters began rising early Monday in the mountain communities of Granite Falls and Index, fed by torrential rains.

More than 80 people required rescue downstream – more than a dozen by helicopter, others by hovercraft.

People left their homes in flood-prone areas around Arlington, Granite Falls, Robe Valley, Oso, Sultan, Gold Bar, Monroe and Index.

Some schools closed early Monday; Stanwood and Index schools will remain shuttered today.

Rising water blocked the highways into and out of Darrington. Floodwaters and mud also covered U.S. 2 east of Sultan.

A state of emergency was declared in Snohomish County by both Gov. Chris Gregoire and County Executive Aaron Reardon.

Blame it on the Pineapple Express. The tropical weather system has brought roughly a foot of rain to the Cascade Mountains since Friday.

Runoff raised the level of Spada Lake, the county’s main reservoir, 20 feet between midnight and 8 p.m. Monday. That alone dumped more than 10 billion gallons of water into the lake.

“The worst is yet to come,” Dana Felton, a National Weather Service meteorologist, said Monday.

Heavy rainfall was expected overnight and into the morning. Most rivers were expected to crest by this afternoon.

If forecasts are correct, this may be the worst flooding in 16 years.

“There is a slug of water coming down the mountains,” said Steve Thomsen, the county’s public works director.

Experts fear the floodwaters may punch through the system of dikes and levees that protect thousands of acres of fertile farmland, at least three major highways and the homes of nearly 25,000 people.

The levees and dikes will be under “tremendous pressure,” Collins said.

Along the Stillaguamish

Furniture, fences, propane tanks, playground equipment and household chemicals floated in flooded front yards in Granite Falls on Monday. The debris was carried by muddy water into the raging South Fork Stillaguamish River.

Chris Johnson, 37, of Granite Falls, attempted to rescue some of his older neighbors whose home was surrounded by water in the town.

Johnson used a dinghy to try to get across swiftly moving waters to Pauline Lindsey, 59, and Carl Gott, 65, who were trapped in their home with their pet cats.

But the dinghy was struck by a large log and started taking on water. He became stranded in a vacant home surrounded by water.

Emergency crews from around the county tried unsuccessfully to rescue the three, first using a boat and then a kayak.

Shortly before 2 p.m., the crews rescued all three using a hovercraft.

“We’ve been through this before, but it’s a bigger deal this time,” Gott said. “Everything will be fine. It’s just a mess to clean up.”

All along the Stilly, communities were hit hard by the rising water.

Flooding prevented the Arlington School District from transporting some students to their homes Monday afternoon.

By 4 p.m., there were about 50 students waiting to be picked up by parents or other guardians from Arlington High School, Post Middle School and Eagle Creek and Trafton elementary schools.

“We will keep them until their parents can come get them or have one big slumber party,” said Misti Gilman, a school district spokeswoman.

The Darrington School District plans to start school two hours late today because of weather conditions but could cancel school if things get worse. There will be limited bus transportation.

The Stillaguamish flooded acres of farmland and Haller Park in Arlington.

An apartment complex near the park was abuzz with residents trying to decide if – and when – to evacuate.

“I’m a little nervous and weary,” said resident Marezela Zamora. “I’ve seen all this on the news, not closer – until now.”

Zamora, who is seven months pregnant, arranged for herself and her two children to stay with a friend should they need to evacuate. Her friend, Julie Blacker, visited Zamora several times Monday to check on the river and make plans.

“The river didn’t rise gradually,” Blacker said, standing outside Zamora’s apartment. “It just rose so fast. I’ve never seen it rise so fast before. People aren’t having a lot of time to get ready and get out.”

From the banks of the Stillaguamish in Silvana, entire trees could be seen floating by in the rushing water.

“I’ve never seen this much debris come down. It looks like a doggone forest,” Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife officer Rick Oosterwyk said.

Pilchuck Creek near Silvana flooded Monday afternoon, submerging trails, farmland and, eventually, Jackson Gulch Road.

Student Tully Smith saw the bloated creek on his way home from Everett Community College. He returned with a friend later in the afternoon to watch the valley fill with water.

“Where we were standing is all underwater now,” he said, pointing to a submerged field. “It rose 2 feet in 45 minutes.”

Stanwood city officials braced for flooding Monday night. An emergency management headquarters was set up in Stanwood’s fire station.

“Hopefully it won’t be as bad as projected, but we have to plan for the worse-case scenario,” Stanwood Fire Chief Michael Ganz said.

Officials warned businesses in downtown Stanwood to move computers and other valuable equipment, Ganz said.

In the mountains along the river, near Robe, Hal Bradley, owner of the Mountain View Inn, said he allowed authorities to use his parking lot as a staging area.

The motel was being offered to people who were forced to leave their homes. The restaurant and lounge were to remain open all night Monday.

Tanya Block, who was renting a home in Robe on a high bank adjacent to the Stillaguamish, said she woke up Monday to the sound of trees crashing through the rushing river.

Block described a huge tree that damaged an A-frame cottage near her home. Numerous homes and cabins in the area were surrounded by water.

“It’s really sad. Those houses are going to be gone,” Block said. “It’s really scary. I never thought this would happen.”

Susan Staab of Robe, who’s lived on the river for 15 years, said high water was approaching her home on Rivershore Lane for the first time in her memory.

“They asked us all to evacuate,” she said, “so we are.”

Along the Skykomish and Snohomish rivers

Flooding also caused problems for the communities along the Skykomish and Snohomish rivers, where emergency crews rescued people trapped by the fast-rising water.

In the mountain community of Index, school was closed after the Skykomish poured over the riverbanks.

Kristine Hovde of Edmonds drove to Index in the morning to check her family’s cabin, which since the 1970s has stood near the North Fork Skykomish River.

“If we lose it, we’ll lose it,” Hovde said.

The family has gathered at the cabin at Thanksgiving for the past several years. They may need to change the plan this year, she said.

She couldn’t drive into town because the water had flooded a bridge. As she waited in a car, the river brought down trees and branches.

“This is power,” her father, Bob Hovde said. “You can’t control it.”

Sultan City Hall was evacuated – and employees were sent home – when water surrounded the building. The downtown fire station also was evacuated and the fire equipment and staff moved to another station.

About 40 people filled sandbags Monday evening at the Sultan police station.

“This is the probably the worst that anybody has seen,” said Kate Roesler, 48, of Startup, who was helping fill sandbags.

Elaine Tolson, who lives a few blocks from the police station, also filled sandbags, saying she wanted to do something rather than feel helpless at home.

“It’s the same thing when a crisis hits,” Tolson said. “People get together.”

Sultan Police Chief Fred Walser said the water rose fast in his city throughout the day. There was flooding at both ends of town, and traffic along U.S. 2 was heavy. He said they asked people not to travel to the town.

“We’ve got a bunch of looky-loos stopping on the bridge to take pictures,” Walser said. “We need people to stay out of the area. This is the strongest system I’ve seen while I’ve been out here. The river is coming up really fast.”

Just south of Sultan, several transients were stranded when water from the Skykomish surrounded their camp. Some had refused to heed earlier warnings to evacuate, and a helicopter crew had to fly them out.

The water level at Spada Lake in the mountains above Sultan shot up 34 feet from Sunday through Monday; it rose about 20 feet on Monday alone.

“It’s rising pretty fast,” said Neil Neroutsos, a spokesman for Snohomish County PUD. “It’s raising at the rate of one foot an hour.”

The PUD has been running as much water as possible through a hydroelectric generator it operates below the lake, but it still may end up running extra water over a spillway today, Neroutsos said.

If the reservoir fills to the top, then the excess has to be released into the Sultan River, he said. The utility had to spill extra water out of the lake in 1997 and 1990.

The PUD shares management of Spada Lake with the city of Everett, which uses the lake to provide most of Snohomish County with its drinking water.

The Evergreen State Fairgrounds in Monroe began sheltering livestock displaced by flooding late Monday morning.

“We just received seven horses,” fairgrounds manager Mark Campbell said. He didn’t know where the horses had come from. Campbell said the facility has 402 stalls, plus outdoor pens and arena space for livestock.

“If we get more than that, the next step in the plan is to host animals in the speedway. It’s all fenced in,” said Campbell, who added that severe flooding every few years brings evacuated animals to the fairgrounds.

In the Tualco Valley just south of Monroe, dairy farmer Jim Werkhoven was getting ready for floods, moving equipment to higher ground.

“We’ve been working our butts off,” Werkhoven said. Even so, he didn’t expect the rising waters to force him to move his 750 cows.

“It hasn’t been a disaster yet,” he said. “Not saying it won’t be.”

In Snohomish, spectators flocked to First Street to check the rising Snohomish River.

Above the spectators, the Snohomish River swallowed part of the Riverfront Trail, which the city renovated just this year.

Mandi Johnson of Snohomish said she’s sad to see the river destroy a portion of the trail, but happy there was no loss of life so far.

“You always worry about families when this happens,” she said.

At Harvey Field, just south of the city limits, staff kept busy getting ready for floods.

The airfield is in a designated flood plain. People at the airfield transferred some airplanes to Paine Field in Mukilteo and the Arlington Airport, said Heather Waldow, the airport’s office manager.

Workers at the airport also planned to move some furniture, computers and other office items during the night, Waldow said.

“I’m not sleeping,” she said.

Reporters David Chircop, Jim Haley, Diana Hefley, Kaitlin Manry, Yoshiaki Nohara, Sharon Salyer, Melissa Slager and Eric Stevick contributed to this story.