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 on Wednesday as a warm, wet storm blew across the state, bringing a combination of heavy rain and rapidly melting snow 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.
High water closed I-5 near Centralia late Wednesday, while avalanches and the threat of more slides closed the state’s three major mountain passes, including U.S. 2 at Stevens Pass, I-90 at Snoqualmie Pass and U.S. 12 at White Pass.
Along I-5 , 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 Transportation Department.
“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, flooding was confined to a few spots, with the deepest water measuring about 3 feet, Wagner said.
The state opened the freeway at noon today 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-5 is expected to open to passenger car traffic later today.
Officials also plowed away avalanches to open I-90, which cuts east from Seattle through the Cascades. U.S. 2 through Stevens Pass and U.S. 12 through White Pass were reopened late Thursday, although White Pass was limited to local traffic because of slides and washouts.
East of Seattle 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. “The sun is breaking through. The water is receding very fast.”
A few miles away in Snoqualmie, Ray and Cathy Gallagher were cleaning up the mud that covered the ground floor of their home, which suffered similar damage in a 2006 flood.
“I thought it was supposed to be a one-in-a-lifetime flood,” said Cathy Gallagher.
Although drier weather was in the forecast, flood warnings remained in effect for 10 Western Washington counties, and the National Weather Service said major flooding was still occurring on four major rivers.
Many roads are still damaged and closed across the state, said Wagner, who figured the damage would run into the millions of dollars and end up more expensive than harm caused by last winter’s floods.
“I would like to request that Mother Nature not dump as much snow on us or quite as much water on us all at once,” Wagner said.
Freight trains were scheduled to begin running this evening on north-south tracks in Western Washington, said Gus Melonas, a spokesman for Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway. Crews were working today to remove mud and debris along the lines, including the Seattle-to-Portland, Ore., corridor and Everett to Vancouver, B.C. Amtrak service was still suspended.
Freight trains were able to travel east and west through the tunnel beneath Stevens Pass during the flooding and bad weather.
Gregoire, U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters, and the state’s two U.S. senators, Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, toured flooded areas today.
Peters said the federal government was giving Washington $2 million as a down payment toward flood repairs, and that more money would be on the way once the state has specifics on the damage.
Opening the highways allowed the hundreds of truckers who pulled their rigs off onto highway shoulders or into packed truck stops to get back on the road. Stalled freight traffic costs the state’s economy millions of dollars per day.
State Transportation Secretary Paula Hammond estimated the economic effect of just the I-5 shutdown at $4 million a day. A major storm 13 months ago closed the same stretch for four days.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
