10:46 PM PST on Wednesday, January 11, 2006

From KING / KING5.com Staff and Wire Reports

SEATTLE — The 24th straight day of rain brought more flooding and mudslides Wednesday and forecasters say there’s no end in sight.

KING

State Route 107 was damaged by the overflowing Chehalis River.

Gov. Christine Gregoire got a bird's-eye view of mudslides and washouts on Western Washington highways while riding aboard a Blackhawk helicopter.

Gregoire was flown over State Route 107 and U.S. 101 in Grays Harbor and surrounding areas that were being flooded by the overflowing Chehalis River.

She was joined by Doug MacDonald, the state transportation director, and Maj. Gen. Timothy Lowenberg, head of the Washington National Guard and director of the state's emergency management division.

At State Route 107 near the city of Raymond, Gregoire saw a portion of road that had moved out of alignment due to the unstable ground beneath it. That road has been shut down.

"It looks more like an earthquake," she said after she returned to the Capitol. "The road sunk, buckled."

Gregoire said transportation officials were drilling to find a stable area and were hoping to get a temporary fix that would last through the wet winter.

She said the closed roads and others with lane closures were causing traffic headaches. "It's the lifeline for people to commute to wherever they're going for their jobs, or school or church," she said. "We've got a situation out there that is tenuous."

Issaquah Creek rising

At daybreak Wednesday in Issaquah, city workers were monitoring the oft-flooded Issaquah Creek as those with homes or businesses at the water’s edge were wondering if they’d be flooded yet again.

KING

At the LakeShore condominiums on Lake Sammamish, the water view got closer than most owners were comfortable with.

“It’s raging.  I’ve never seen it like this,” said Nivart Migotsky, resident.  “We were here four years ago and it wasn’t like this.” 

At the LakeShore Condos along West Lake Sammamish Parkway, residents had water woes of a different sort. Lake Sammamish has been inching higher and higher during the past couple of days, flooding the boat launch area and the parking lot.

“We’re getting nervous right now if it keeps it up,” said Bud Garske.  “Any higher and we’re going to be in trouble in another couple days.” 

Lake Sammamish drains into Lake Washington and some are concerned that debris may be hindering drainage.

One Olympia area business reported three inches of water accumulation due to a clogged storm drain and a hillside trail from the Capitol Campus to Heritage Park was closed to the public due to landslide concerns.

More rain on the way

The rain let up over parts of Washington on Wednesday, but more was in the forecast as the National Weather Service warned of more flooding in the lowlands and snow in the mountains from storms on the way.

Seattle is closing in on a record set in 1953, when it rained for 33 days straight. More than 11 inches have fallen since the back-to-back rainy days started Dec. 19.

The record is one Gregoire is not eager to beat, even though the regular dousings all but erase the threat of drought the state endured last year.

"We can't afford a lot more rain or else we'll face much worse problems than road washouts," she said.

Several rivers had flooded Wednesday, including the Columbia, Cowlitz, Chehalis, Skookumchuck, Skokomish, Snoqualmie and Puyallup rivers. So far, officials said none of the flooding has been severe.

The rain is continuing to translate into snow in the mountains.

The National Weather Service issued a snow advisory for the west slopes of the north and central Cascades extending until late Thursday.

Those areas could see accumulations of 4 to 9 inches and causing travel difficulties.

Flood watches in effect

The weather service said flood watches would remain in effect for rivers in King, Lewis, Pierce, Thurston and Grays Harbor counties because more heavy rain was in the forecast.

In Skagit County, a Tuesday afternoon mudslide closed all lanes of State Route 20 a half mile east of Concrete. The highway reopened Wednesday afternoon.

State Route 166 near Port Orchard remained closed Wednesday -- five days after a mudslide prompted the closure. Transportation officials had no estimate for when it might reopen.

Disruptions to passenger train traffic between Seattle and Everett were compounded Wednesday afternoon by another mudslide, this one near Golden Gardens in north Seattle.

Amtrak service halted

A slide early Tuesday halted Amtrak passenger train service between Vancouver, British Columbia, and Portland, Ore., and Sounder commuter trains between Seattle and Everett.

AP

Gov Christine Gregoire, left, talks with Tom Badger, a geologist with the state Department of Transportation, while viewing a flooded area over southwest Washington from a helicopter.

After a mandatory minimum 48-hour closure, officials had hoped to resume passenger rail service Thursday morning. However, Wednesday afternoon's slide meant the 48-hour rule kicked in anew, so passenger train service won't resume until Friday afternoon - barring any additional slides, Sound Transit spokesman Lee Somerstein said.

Freight trains were not affected, nor were Sounder commuter trains that run south from Seattle to Tacoma.

Since the weather service's "weather year" began Oct. 1, Seattle has had nearly 21 inches of rain, more than 4 inches above normal and well above the 11 inches in the city at this time last year.

Eastern Washington has also been getting a lot of rain. The weather service's Spokane office said that since Dec. 21, the region has experienced the warmest and possibly wettest early winter ever, reducing some of the mountain snowpacks on which the region relies for agricultural irrigation and electricity generation during the spring and summer.

From Dec. 21 to Jan. 10, 5.2 inches of rain and snow fell in Spokane, breaking a record set for the same period in 1964, when 4.09 inches fell.

Ron Miller, a Weather Service meteorologist, said that makes it the second-wettest three-week stretch at any time of year since Spokane started keeping weather statistics in 1881. The record was 5.53 inches of precipitation that fell during a 21-day period ending Sept. 17, 1927.

The average Spokane temperature since Dec. 21 has been 38.4 degrees, one-tenth of a degree shy of the record set in 1922. The average temperature for the period is 24.6 degrees.

Flooding means business

For homeowners, the damage is a nightmare, but for city workers and private companies, it’s a blessing in disguise.

“It's kind of nice for us, the extra work, because it was slow there around Christmas time, but things have really picked up,” said Peck. 

“We've been getting called out multiply times a day and I've worked several nights straight through trying to keep people’s houses from getting worse, and to get them dried out,” said John Wilkins, who works for 1-800-WATER DAMAGE.

Wilkins said this year business has been booming with the near-record rainfall, and all the rain and destruction is paying his bills.  But even he would like to see it let up even for just a day.

AP

A mudslide on the West Valley Highway in Edgewood, Wash., carried several large trees to the roadway Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2005.

“Rain is good for us, but there comes a point were I would like to get some sleep, too,” said Wilkins.

A mudslide on the West Valley Highway in Edgewood, Wash., carried several large trees to the roadway Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2005.

Road crews will also be on “pothole patrol.” The City of Seattle normally fills about 50,000 potholes a year. However, for wetter years such as 2002, crews filled 150,000 potholes. Urban flood was also a concern, as road crews try to keep drains and gutters cleared of leaves and debris.