Flash Flood Warning: White River levee breach forces overnight evacuations in Pacific
Dec 16, 2025, 6:01 AM | Updated: 4:24 pm
An aerial view of the White River levee break near Pacific. (Photo courtesy of KIRO Newsradio)
(Photo courtesy of KIRO Newsradio)
Pacific residents are being asked to evacuate early Tuesday due to a levee failure on the White River.
“We have issued a flash flood warning for a levee breach on the White River in the City of Pacific,” the National Weather Service (NWS) in Seattle stated on social media. “In addition, an evacuation notice is now in effect for the city of Pacific in King County.”
The evacuation zone is from Ellingson Road, down past Third Avenue, and along the White River to County Line Road S.W. Officials are asking anyone in low-lying areas along the river to move to higher ground immediately.
Flash Flood Warning including King County, WA until 7:45 AM PST pic.twitter.com/UDtmtfOanY
— NWS Seattle (@NWSSeattle) December 16, 2025
“As of now, it’s just the 220 homes that are evacuated,” Kelly Hawks, lead community outreach specialist with The Valley Regional Fire Authority, said. “We’re monitoring the situation and if we need to evacuate more, we will make sure that information gets out to the people who need it.”
The water breached a HESCO barrier — huge bags of sand put in place to keep flood waters from the White River from flowing into the city of Pacific. The King County Sheriff’s Office has deployed its Guardian One helicopter to fly over neighborhoods under the evacuation warning, telling people to “evacuate, get out now.”
“This is brand new for us. It’s never happened before,” an anonymous evacuee said. “We are going to head north, probably go up to my brother’s house. He lives in Edgewood. We’ll make our way up there if we have to.”
California task force rescue teams from Menlow Park, Sacramento, and Oakland are among the emergency crews going door-to-door to make sure everyone is out and safe.
“We want to make sure people are not coming down here. We don’t want citizens coming down here,” Hawks said. “There is going to be a lot of heavy equipment coming into the area.”
Break in the White River levee
The break in the levee was first reported at 12:08 a.m. Tuesday, with the official flash flood warning occurring at 1:40 a.m. The break is approximately 40-50 feet in size.
Officials told KIRO 7 that repairs, including putting giant sandbags in the break, will take several hours.
This is a developing story, check back for updates
Contributing: James Lynch, KIRO Newsradio
Follow Frank Sumrall on X. Send news tips here.
