Whatcom and Skagit counties could face moderate and major flooding over the next few days as two more atmospheric rivers move through the region.
The first atmospheric river will move through Saturday, bringing increasing rain in the afternoon. There will be a break Sunday afternoon and Monday before the second system arrives Tuesday.
The lowlands could see another 1-2 inches of rain out of the Saturday system, according to the National Weather Service (NWS). The North Cascades and Olympics could see 3-6 inches of rain with snow levels around 6,000 to 7,000 feet. Read more
Whatcom County issued an Emergency Proclamation as more flooding is expected this weekend when a new series of Atmospheric Rivers makes landfall on western Washington.
The communities of Everson, Sumas, Nooksack and Marietta, in particular, are being urged to prepare for rising floodwater in the midst of recovering from the most recent round of flooding.
At the Everson city shops, in the 600 block of Robinson Street, the Seattle District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Friday night brought in an automatic sandbag filling machine-- expected to help speed sandbag production starting Saturday morning. The city had more sand delivered on Friday. Read more
South African scientists identified a new version of the coronavirus this week that they say is behind a recent spike in COVID-19 infections in Gauteng, the country’s most populous province.
It's unclear where the new variant first emerged, but scientists in South Africa first alerted the World Health Organization and it has now been seen in travelers to Belgium, Botswana, Hong Kong and Israel.
There are no known cases of the omicron variant in the U.S. as of Friday. KING 5 answers five common questions about the new strain. Read more
A new coronavirus variant identified in South Africa is leading to a new round of travel restrictions just as many had finally begun to ease. The risks of the variant, called omicron, are largely unknown.
But, the World Health Organization has called it a "variant of concern" and governments around the world are not waiting for scientists to better understand the variant to impose flight bans and other travel restrictions.
The United States joined the European Union and several other countries in instituting travel restrictions on visitors from southern Africa. Read more
A Seattle distillery that made thousands of bottles of hand sanitizer during the pandemic is now racing to give away boxes of it.
“I'd love people to come get hand sanitizer, as much as they want,” said Jason Parker, co-founder and president of Copperworks Distilling Company.
The distillery began making hand sanitizer in 2020 in response to a nationwide shortage. However, demand slowed and today, Copperworks is left with about 50,000 bottles of their craft sanitizer, stacked on 22 pallets. Read more
Also see: Seattle local forecast
Have the "5 things you need to know" delivered to your inbox. Sign up for the daily morning email here.
Download KING 5's Roku and Amazon Fire apps for live newscasts and video on demand.
