Rains pound west side of state

The Associated Press

SEATTLE — Heavy rains drenched Western Washington on Wednesday, prompting flood warnings along several rivers and triggering at least three mudslides in the Puget Sound area.

One of the mudslides closed Highway 522 at Paradise Lake Road in southern Snohomish County on Wednesday afternoon.

Flood warnings were issued along four rivers: the Skokomish River in Mason County, a stretch of the Puyallup River in Pierce County; and in King County, the Snoqualmie and Tolt rivers and Issaquah Creek.

Flood watches, which are less urgent than flood warnings, were issued for several other rivers, including the upper portion of the Cowlitz, the Satsop, the Snohomish and the Stillaguamish, McDonnal said.

A stretch of West Sammamish Parkway east of Seattle was closed from Bellevue to Redmond when water and mud rushing down a hillside washed away enough dirt beneath the road to make it too weak for traffic, said Barbara Ramey, a Bellevue transportation department spokeswoman.

Engineers were inspecting the road and traffic was detoured.

A third mudslide damaged a waterfront home in Seattle’s Magnolia neighborhood. Residents were evacuated and a road upslope from the home was closed because the slide had weakened it, said Alan Justad, a city land use spokesman.

Engineers examined the mudslide and damage to the home on 32nd Avenue W., determining that two women residents could enter the home at their own risk.

Power to five homes in the area was shut off Wednesday morning because the instability of the hill threatened a utility pole, said Dan Williams of Seattle City Light.

The city also reported a 12-inch water main was shut down as a precaution, and some residences were receiving temporary water service.

The heaviest rain was falling on the south slopes of the Olympic mountains and on the west slopes of the Cascades, National Weather Service hydrologist Doug McDonnal said.

The rain, which started falling Tuesday, was expected to change to showers today, McDonnal said.

Twenty-four hour rainfall totals as of late Wednesday afternoon ranged from less than a half inch at Whidbey Island to nearly 5 inches in Olympia.

Scattered road closures were reported throughout Western Washington, many caused by high water levels.

A high-wind watch for Wednesday night into today was issued for the northern and central Washington coast, the northern interior and the north Kitsap Peninsula. Southeast winds of 25 to 40 mph with gusts of up to 60 mph were predicted.

In Seattle, where more than 3 inches of rain fell, volunteers were scrambling to bail water out of sailboats and canoes docked at the Center for Wooden Boats.

"If the winds come up really strong, we’ll have to pull boats off the sawhorses," said Ron Haas, 39, of Kirkland.

The low-pressure system responsible for the rain was full of subtropical moisture — a system weather experts call a "pineapple express," said National Weather Service meteorologist Dustin Guy.

The system’s warmth sent the snow level to 7,000 feet, so rain was falling on the state’s Cascade Mountain passes.

Rain fell in Eastern Washington as well, but not enough to cause any flood worries.