Melting snow causes heavy flooding in Washington state

Snoqualmie, Wash. — Rain and high winds lashed Washington state Wednesday, causing widespread avalanches, mudslides, flooding and road closures as the heavy snowfall that has buried parts of the state began to rapidly melt.

More than 30,000 people were told to leave their homes in a flood-endangered valley southeast of Tacoma as authorities warned of heavy flooding.

"This is going to be a memorable flood event," said Andy Haner, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Seattle.

Firetrucks rolled through Orting, about 10 miles southeast of Tacoma, with loudspeakers advising everyone to leave the town and surrounding valley, home to about 26,000 people. Sandbags were placed around many downtown homes and businesses as the Puyallup River neared record levels.

"They expect the town of Orting to go under water," Pierce County sheriff's Detective Ed Troyer said, adding that the flooding could be the worst in more than a decade.

Tacoma Mayor Bill Baarsma declared a civil emergency because of flood risks from the Puyallup River.

Throughout the state, about 60 highways were closed, including every pass through the Cascade Range. A 20-mile stretch of Interstate 5 near Chehalis in southwestern Washington was also closed Wednesday evening.

Amtrak said it has halted passenger trains between Seattle and Portland at least until Friday because of mudslides and washouts, Bloomberg News reported.

Warmer temperatures and heavy rains were melting snow from a weekend storm, with 10 inches melting in a 12-hour period at Snoqualmie Pass, about 50 miles east of Seattle, Haner said.

In Snoqualmie, 25 miles east of Seattle, kayakers paddled in the street as city officials urged residents in the flood plain of the Snoqualmie River to leave before they became trapped.

Volunteers gathered at a city park to stuff sandbags for residents to protect their homes.

June Garvin said she lived high on a ridge outside the danger area but wanted to help.

"The river came up so fast that for some people, sorry to say, sandbags aren't going to do a darn thing," Garvin said. "The water's going to get in if it wants to."

Chris Caviezel, who has lived at Snoqualmie Pass for about seven years, said conditions were the worst he has seen.

"We're getting avalanches, and we're being flooded," Caviezel said.

The weather service predicted that an additional 4 to 8 inches of rain would fall on the coast and Cascades through Wednesday night and 1 to 3 inches elsewhere in the region.

Several dozen people and a number of pets were rescued by boat Wednesday morning after being trapped by high water outside Orting, Pierce County sheriff's Detective Ed Troyer said.

The weather service warned that rain-saturated snow would place even more weight on Spokane rooftops, increasing the threat of collapse. The city's schools were closed, giving its 29,000 students a second unscheduled day off this week.

The state Fish and Wildlife Department said six wild elk that took refuge in a storage barn in Metaline Falls were killed Tuesday when the snow-laden roof collapsed. Officers said it was rare for elk to be so desperate that they would enter a barn.