PACKWOOD – As occasional sunbreaks helped dry out saturated soils Wednesday, the focus was shifting to recovery and damage assessment in Western Washington after a three-day drenching that submerged roads, homes and businesses, and caused two deaths.
Gary Neff grinned wryly while surveying the damage at his three-room cabin 300 yards from the Cowlitz River, where 2 inches of thick mud covered the floor.
“I didn’t know my place was the low spot,” Neff said, raindrops fogging his glasses.
On a breezy day, with occasional raindrops fell through sunshine, it was hard to imagine the dark skies, high winds and pounding rain that the so-called Pineapple Express delivered to Western Washington on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.
In Lewis County, where Packwood and the nearby valley town of Randle were especially hard hit, at least three homes were swept away in the Cowlitz River, with dozens more severely damaged and some still in feet of water. But the focus Wednesday was on retrieving hunters who’d been staked out on higher ground. Some were unaware that their escape routes – many dozens of roads across the county – had been blocked by washouts or mudslides.
Chief Deputy Gene Seiber estimated as many as 1,000 hunters could be tucked away on the hillsides between Mount Rainier and Mount St. Helens. Hunting season opened last week.
The two deaths so far attributed to the storm both occurred in the Cowlitz River in Lewis County. A 20-year-old elk hunter from Seattle died Monday and another man Tuesday. Both had driven their trucks into standing water. The body of the second man – identified as Richard J. Greetan, 63, of Mossyrock – was recovered Wednesday morning. His hometown was not disclosed.
More rain is expected Friday, but “just a rainstorm, not a flooding rain,” said forecaster Chris Burke at the National Weather Service. After a “showery” weekend, more rain is expected Monday.
The storm that generated the flooding was “the fifth 10-year event in the last 16 years,” he noted – citing storms in 1990, ‘95, ‘96, 2003 and this week.
While river levels were dropping, some were still at flood stage, with recovery and damage assessment still hours or even days away.
The Skagit River was still above flood stage of 28 feet, said spokesman Jim Martin in the county’s emergency management agency. “The water’s receding,” he said at mid-day, but was over 32 feet in Mount Vernon and 30 feet at Concrete. “We still have some people in shelters,” Martin said.
The low-lying town of Hamilton, population about 330, was probably the hardest hit, he said. “Anytime we have one of these events it’s hit hard. They got about 5 feet of water.” An effort to move the town is under way.
In Pierce County, receding rivers gave crews a chance to repair damage to a levee south of Orting over the Carbon River. Water was being released from dams in eastern Pierce County to reduce reservoir levels before the next rain.
In King County, the Snoqualmie River Valley was hardest hit by floodwaters after the river crested near Carnation at 61.17 feet – 7 feet above flood level. There were no major evacuations.
On Wednesday, crews surveyed roads and levee systems. “The damage is unknown at this point to bridges and roads,” said Jaime Quick, spokesman for King County Emergency Management.
The state Office of Emergency Management and the Federal Emergency Management Agency will have crews on the ground next week, said state spokesman Rob Harper. They can’t go earlier because “we still need to get water out of places,” he said. County data will lay the groundwork for on-site surveys.
Rainfall for the five days ending Tuesday set records of 9.79 inches at the Olympia airport, eclipsing the 8.3-inch mark set in 1990, and 7.57 inches at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, where the 1979 record was 5.59 inches.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
