Nearly 4,500 still without power as ‘catastrophic’ flooding hits western WA

Due to the severe flooding in several areas throughout western Washington, thousands of households are without power.

According to poweroutage.com, 4,446 customers still remain without power, as of Saturday morning. As many as 33,000 customers were without power across the state during the intense rain and flooding. Poweroutage.com tracks 3,586,210 customers in the state.

The aggressive weather on Wednesday, which is slowly tapering off for the week, included wind gusts of up to 40 mph alongside heavy rain.

Puget Sound Energy is currently tracking 29 outages, affecting 1,464 households, as of this reporting. Seattle City Light is reporting zero power outages.

Fifty-eight Snohomish PUD customers are without power, while there are no current outages through Tacoma Public Utilities.

You can view outages with Peninsula Light Company, Jefferson County PUD, and Clallam County PUD at the links provided.

For what to do when in a power outage, view Seattle City Light’s guide here.

Flooding throughout western Washington

Heavy rain from an immense atmospheric river has flooded several parts of western Washington Wednesday, triggering evacuations and road closures.

Washington Governor Bob Ferguson declared a statewide emergency this afternoon.

“Lives will be at stake in the coming days,” Ferguson said. He estimated that as many as 100,000 Washington residents could face evacuation orders.

Evacuations have been issued in Orting, Mount Vernon and other parts of Skagit County, Ebey Island, and south of Monroe in Tualco Valley.

Meteorologists have estimated approximately 5 trillion gallons of rain have hit the state over the past week due to “supercharged” atmospheric rivers channeling in water. Several flooding records could be broken by the storm’s finish.

The National Weather Service expected flooding from several rivers in western Washington to be “catastrophic.”

Due to a landslide, I-90 eastbound near North Bend will remain closed through Wednesday night.

Flood warnings for 13 western WA rivers

Seven rivers are currently at Flood Phase 4, the highest and most dangerous warning phase.

The Snoqualmie River reached Flood Phase 4 at 5 a.m. Tuesday, King County reported.

“The river is expected to rise to a crest of 60.0 feet [Thursday] afternoon,” officials stated. “It will then fall below flood stage late Friday morning.”

Phase 4 means residential areas could experience “dangerously high velocities and flooding of homes,” officials wrote. Additional roads that could overtop are Moon Valley Road S.E., S.E. David Powell Road, most of Neal Road S.E., SR 202 upstream of Fall City, W. River Road, S.E. 19th Way, portions of Fall City-Carnation Road S.E. (SR 203), N.E. 16th Street, N.E. 100th Street, N.E. 124th Street, N.E. 138th Street, N.E. Woodinville-Duvall Road, and 288th Ave N.E.

“The Snoqualmie River will cause major flooding from the town of Snoqualmie downstream through Fall City, inundating most of the farmland in the flood plain, some residential areas, and many roads,” officials stated.

The Skykomish River also reached Flood Phase 4, with possible riverbank erosion and flood debris. As of 5 p.m. Tuesday, the river remains in Flood Phase 4.

“The Skykomish River will cause severe, near-record flooding from Index downstream to Monroe,” officials stated. “The river will flood many homes, cover much of the farmland, close most roads, and overtop most dikes.”

In addition to the Snoqualmie and Skykomish rivers, the Cedar River, the Cowlitz River, the Skagit River, the Snohomish River, and the Yakima River are currently at Phase 4 flooding levels.

“At 33.0 feet, the Snohomish River will cause severe near-record flooding,” officials stated. “Flood waters will likely overtop levees with major levee damage possible.”

Additionally, the Skagit River is expected to set new flooding records.

The Chehalis River, the Green River, the Naches River, the Wenatchee River, the White River, and the Yakima River at Parker are all at Phase 3 flooding.

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