Snohomish flooding continues; some rivers ebb
Published 12:39 pm Friday, January 9, 2009
As floods continue for a third day in Snohomish County, the situation is starting to settle down on the Skykomish and Stillaguamish rivers. However, water continues to spill over levees and dikes along the Snohomish River, flooding homes, farms and roads.
Highway 9 remains closed at Snohomish, and traffic was tangled this morning along the U.S. 2 trestle and in Marysville as people sought alternate routes.
Flood waters filled the river valleys in places. Schools in Stanwood and Snohomish were closed today because of flooding.
Since Thursday afternoon, the Snohomish River has been at 33.47 feet at Snohomish, just shy of the 33.5 feet record, according to Mike McFarland, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Seattle. With water constantly gushing over levees, he said the river is basically as high as it can get.
“Waters are flowing over and flooding the valley,” he said. “When water starts to reach its theoretical maximum, it kind of flows over the dikes and it can’t get any worse. The Snohomish Valley is about as worse as it can get.”
Late last night, diking district officials decided to stop plugging leaks with sandbags along a breached dike on Ebey Island. Concerned for workers safety, they are allowing the area to flood.
Snohomish County officials are urging Ebey Island’s 140 residents to evacuate.
However because water is seeping onto the island at a slower pace than initially anticipated, people should have until this evening to decide whether to leave, county spokesman Christopher Schwarzen said. They should prepare for as many as five days away from home.
A break in the rain today should slow flooding, McFarland said. One to two inches of rain is expected in the mountains on Saturday and on Sunday the Snohomish River should drop below flood level, he said. Even with a reprieve in the rain, standing water will take a while to slowly drain.
“We’re going to get some rain Saturday, but I don’t think it’s anything you have to worry about,” McFarland said. “The big rain event was with this last storm.”
