Washington state under emergency as torrential rain triggers floods, mudslides and evacuations

Emergency management officials urged residents not to drive through standing water. Those who live near rivers were advised to stay alert to evacuation orders.

After days of unrelenting heavy rain Gov. Bob Ferguson declared a statewide emergency by Wednesday night, warning “lives will be at stake in the coming days.” Some residents have already been told to get to higher ground, with Skagit County, in a major agricultural region north of Seattle, ordering everyone within the Skagit River’s 100-year floodplain to evacuate.

Catastrophic flooding is likely in many areas and the state is requesting water rescue teams and boats, Ferguson said on the social media platform X on Wednesday night.

Hundreds of National Guard members will be sent to help communities, said Gent Welsh, adjutant general of the Washington National Guard.

In a valley leading out to the foothills of Mount Rainier southeast of Seattle, Pierce County sheriff’s deputies on Wednesday rescued people at an RV park in Orting, including helping one man in a Santa hat wade through waist-deep water. Part of the town was ordered to evacuate over concerns about the Puyallup River’s extremely high levels and upstream levees.

A landslide blocked part of Interstate 90 east of Seattle, with photos from Eastside Fire & Rescue showing vehicles trapped by tree trunks, branches, mud and standing water. Officials also closed a mountainous section of U.S. 2 due to rocks, trees and mud.

More than 17,000 customers in Washington were without electricity Thursday, according to PowerOutage.us.

Flooding rivers could break records

The Skagit River was expected to crest at roughly 42 feet (13 meters) in the mountain town of Concrete early Thursday, and roughly 39 feet (12 meters) in Mount Vernon early Friday.

“We feel very confident that we can handle a ‘normal flood,’ but no one really knows what a 41, 42 foot river looks like south of Mount Vernon,” Darrin Morrison, a commissioner for Dike District 3 in Skagit County, said during a public meeting Wednesday night.

The county was closing non-essential government services Thursday, including all district and superior court services.

Flooding from the river has long plagued Mount Vernon, the largest city in the county with some 35,000 residents. Flooding in 2003 displaced hundreds of people.

The city completed a floodwall in 2018 that helps protect the downtown. It passed a major test in 2021, when the river crested near record levels.

But the city is on high alert. The historic river levels expected Friday could top the wall, and some are worried that older levees could fail.“

It could potentially be catastrophic,” said Ellen Gamson, executive director of the Mount Vernon Downtown Association.

Sheena Wilson, who owns a floral shop downtown, stacked sandbags by the doors and cleared items off the floor.

“If the water comes in above table height I’ve got bigger problems than my merchandise,” she said.

Jake Lambly added sandbags, tested water pumps and moved valuables to the top floor of the home he shares with his 19-year-old son.

“This is my only asset,” he said Wednesday from his front porch. “I got nothing else.”

Cities respond to flooding

Harrison Rademacher, a meteorologist with the weather service in Seattle, described the atmospheric river soaking the region as “a jet stream of moisture” stretching across the Pacific Ocean “with the nozzle pushing right along the coast of Oregon and Washington.

”In Sumas, a small city along the U.S.-Canada border, a flood siren rang out at city hall and residents were told to leave. The border crossing was also closed to southbound commercial vehicles to leave more room for evacuations, according to the Abbotsford Police Department.

Climate change has been linked to some intense rainfall. Scientists say that without specific study they cannot directly link a single weather event to climate change, but in general it’s responsible for more intense and more frequent extreme storms, droughts, floods and wildfires.

Another storm system is expected to bring more rain starting Sunday. “The pattern looks pretty unsettled going up to the holidays,” Rademacher said.