Video: Flood water recedes, cleanup begins

Larger screen

SEATTLE – Flood waters in many Western Washington areas are receding, but some areas are still under water as officials begin the work of assessing the damage and cleaning up the mess left behind.

While most rivers have already crested, flood warnings remain in effect Thursday for the Cowlitz, Nisqually, Puyallup, Skykomish, Snohomish and Snoqualmie rivers.

Heavy rain that swelled rivers and saturated Western Washington Wednesday let up Thursday. Numerous roads were still shut down and several school districts have delayed or canceled classes.

Click here for minute-by-minute updates.

Many evacuated residents returned home.

Although the water is receding, it still took a boat to get 88-year-old Donald Davis home Thursday afternoon. His house is surrounded by flood water. He has six inches of water in his living room.

"We lucked out this time. Last time there was 21 inches in here,” said Davis.

He’s been through this before – more than 57 times.

In 1990, FEMA required Davis to buy flood insurance for $300 a month. It was a smart move. On his social security fixed income, this could have been a financial disaster.

The forecast calls for mostly dry weather this weekend. That should keep rivers receding and help dry out areas saturated by repeated rains.

Counties switch to recovery mode

Emergency operations centers across Western Washington switched from flood response to clean-up and assessment mode Thursday afternoon.

“Our major rivers – the Snohomish, Skykomish and Stillaguamish – are starting to recede and it doesn’t look like there’s going to be any major overtopping of the dikes,” said Steve Thomsen, Snohomish Co. Public Works,

As of noon Thursday, about 14 roads in Snohomish County remained closed, down from a high of 24 roads. Some of those road closures trapped people in their homes between Monroe and Sultan.

Pierce County also switched into damage assessment mode Thursday as water levels on the Carbon, Nisqually and Puyallup rivers receded.

The Army Corps of Engineers have been working along the Puyallup River to shore up the levees. At daybreak 16 dump trucks began making round-trips between the river banks and a nearby quarry, bringing crushed rocks that will add 6 or so inches to the levees along the Puyallup.

Public works crews in Pierce County Thursday afternoon were working to secure two areas where the levee washed out near Orting – a one hundred foot stretch on the Puyallup River in the Neadham Road area and approximately 75 feet on the Carbon River near 184th Street East.

Roads cut off

Highway 203 between Fall City and Carnation is back open after flood waters shut it down Wednesday evening, but other roads near Highway 203 were still shut down Thursday afternoon. Dozens of roads in King County also remained closed.

King County Emergency Management spokesperson Lynn Miller reminds drivers not to drive through flooded roads. That is the leading cause of flood deaths in Washington.

Flooding also forced the closure of U.S. 12 near Randle in Lewis County due to rising water from nearby Davis Creek and Cowlitz River.

The state Department of Transportation has also closed the Green River Bridge between Enumclaw and Black Diamond after geotechnical experts detected small movements in the soil holding up the bridge. It will likely stay closed through Friday morning at the earliest.

Mount Rainier

Mount Rainier National Park was closed after the main access route, Nisqually Road, was covered with more than 6 inches of floodwater from Kautz Creek in the southwest corner of the park. Rangers used a service road to help evacuate seven guests from the National Park Inn at Longmire on Tuesday night.

The park was closed for months in the fall of 2006 because of flood damage from storms that dumped nearly 18 inches of rain in 36 hours.

Evergreen State Fairgrounds sheltering large animals

Evergreen State Fair officials have opened their barns at the fairgrounds for large animals needing shelter. Residents can take livestock and other large animals to the horse barns.

About 130 animals, including 10 cows, four zebras and more than 100 horses, were housed at the fairgrounds Wednesday.

Family rescued from creek in Tillamook, Ore.

A family of four managed to survive after their car plunged into Fawcett Creek Wednesday night.

Glen Cyphers, his daughter and two grandchildren were driving home from church when their car plunged down a washed out culvert and into the fast-moving creek.

“We kept going downstream quite a ways,” says Cyphers, “and then a log came through the back window and the car started filling up with water.”

With the car tangled in a log jam, Cyphers -- a retired state trooper -- forced his door open, grabbed his granddaughter and put her on the trunk of the car. Suddenly, the car listed sideways. Meanwhile, his daughter and other granddaughter fought to escape the submerged car.

“We got up top of the car and we had a nice prayer time,” says Cyphers. “We knew we were dead.”

The four were stranded for nearly an hour on a stack of logs before being miraculously rescued unharmed by Tillamook volunteer firefighters and the Coast Guard.

They weren’t the only victims of the flood-swollen creek. Another car with a mother, her daughter and 2 infants also plunged into the creek.

The 11-year-old girl managed to crawl through the broken front window and shimmy across a branch of the tree to get to safety. The daughter went to a nearby house to alert authorities that her mother and two young children were atop the vehicle. Firefighters were able to rescue the family.

In all, nobody was seriously hurt.

Highway 6 was closed because of a mudslide Thursday between Highway 47 and Jordan Creek Road.

Crews closed Highway 101 between its junction with U.S. 26 and Seaside, because of standing water.  A pilot car  was guiding high-clearance vehicles through, but all other traffic was rerouted to Oregon 202 to Oregon 103 and back to Hwy. 26.