What we covered here
• Widespread evacuations: Parts of Burlington, Washington, faced hurried evacuations Friday as swollen waterways spilled into homes. They joined the 100,000 others in the state that faced potential evacuations.
• Water rescues: Rivers across western Washington burst their banks and inundated towns and homes with fast-moving floodwater so deep it reached the roofs of homes. Dozens of people were rescued in Sumas, some by helicopter, in water up to 15 feet deep.
• Historic river floods: Water levels on at least four rivers hit record highs, with many others rising into major flood stage, the most severe level. Water levels are starting to drop, but will remain flooded for days.
Our live coverage of Washington flooding has ended. Get the latest here.
Evacuation partially lifted in Burlington
An evacuation order in Burlington, Washington, has been partially lifted, the mayor has announced. The order was issued earlier this morning after floodwaters began spilling into homes.
As of late this morning, 350 homes had been evacuated, with the order having gone out to everyone within Burlington’s city limits — around 11,000 people, according to Mark Enty with Northwest Incident Management Team 10.
People with homes or businesses “west of the North/South railroad tracks in Burlington may return home and open businesses as usual,” the city said in an update. “We will continue to keep everyone updated as new information comes up.”
Earlier, the National Guard went door-to-door to notify Burlington residents and to help evacuate, CNN previously reported.
Burlington is located along the Skagit River, which reached a record high Friday morning. The floodwater is coming from the Gages Slough, a natural drainage area and waterway in Burlington, officials said.
Watch: Drone brings life jacket to man stranded on car in raging floodwaters
A King County Sheriff’s Office deputy piloted a drone to send a life vest to a man stuck on top of a car surrounded by floodwaters.
The man was eventually saved by a Navy Search and Rescue Helicopter from Whidbey, according to the sheriff’s office.
More than 20 highways are closed in Washington
Flooding from the atmospheric river has brought travel to a halt in large portions of western Washington. More than 20 highways are closed across 11 counties, according to the Washington State Department of Transportation.
Included in that count is a nearly 50-mile stretch of US 2.
Homes still inaccessible in city that saw up to 15 feet of flooding
In Sumas, Washington, where dozens of residents were rescued yesterday as floodwater levels surged to more than 15 feet in some areas, homes remain inaccessible, the city said.
“There is still flooding coming over the bridge through the middle of town making access impossible at this time,” Sumas Mayor Bruce Bosch said Friday morning.
“Estimation is it will probably take the better part of today for levels to drop enough to get to our homes. Hang in there.”
Local farmers with tractors had joined yesterday’s rescue efforts, alongside volunteer firefighters, local law enforcement, volunteer search and rescue, the US Coast Guard and US Border Patrol’s Borstar unit, CNN previously reported. Some Sumas residents had been evacuated Wednesday as parts of the city began to flood.
Pierce County Sheriff's Office swamped between flood rescues and crime
Flooding rescues are swamping members of the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office who are trying to juggle rescues with regular crime responses.
The sheriff’s office facilitated over 60 water rescues Thursday, Pierce County Deputy Carly Capetto told CNN’s Sara Sidner. But the deputies’ other responsibilities are not on hold.
“Members on our swift water team are detectives, so they had to leave those swift water teams to go manage a homicide in addition to returning back to swift water to make more rescues,” Capetto explained. “So it’s a juggling act right now for us.”
Capetto said calls for assistance are coming in waves now and around other issues like potholes, whereas there were landslides, fallen trees and down wires to deal with yesterday.
“People need to understand, even though it’s not raining, our rivers are still rising, and it still could potentially get worse before it gets better,” the deputy warned.
Two homes swept into Nooksack River in Whatcom County
Erosion from the floodwaters in Welcome, Washington, caused two homes along the river to collapse and be swept away into the Nooksack River yesterday, Whatcom County Fire District Assistant Chief David Moe told CNN.
There were no injuries reported, Moe said.
How the atmospheric river depleted snowpack and worsened flooding
Atmospheric rivers haul in warm, moist Pacific air and that means mountain locations were drenched by rain instead of snow over the past week. That worsened flooding in two ways:
• The rainfall melted existing snowpack in the Cascades and Olympic mountains, as seen in the before-after-after analysis below. Some of that melted snow likely flowed into creeks and rivers, which can exacerbate flooding.
• Snowfall earlier this week was confined to elevations between 7,000 to 9,000 feet at times, so some parts of the Cascade and Olympic mountains saw a far greater volume of rain than usual. All that water instead of snow played a big role in the major flooding as it funneled into lower elevations and caused rivers to burst their banks.
'Some were not expecting the water to rise as quickly as it did,' fire official from King County says
Around 20 to 30 people have been rescued from flooding in eastern King County, Washington, according to fire officials.
“Some of them are mobility impaired. They’ve gotten stuck in their homes,” Catherine Imbolden, spokesperson for Eastside Fire and Rescue, told CNN’s Sara Sidner. “Some were not expecting the water to rise as quickly as it did.”
The rescues included people trapped in apartment buildings or cars swept up in the floodwaters.
“Luckily, we’ve got multiple boats all up and down the river and different rescue tools and a lot of swift water techs,” Imbolden explained. “Due to the rivers here, we train all year round for these kinds of situations. Luckily, we don’t experience them often.”
While water levels have begun to recede, Imbolden said the rivers are still at flood stage. She warned residents to stay out of the floodwaters.
“There’s debris under the water, there’s power lines under the water, there’s bacteria, there’s a lot of boil water notices out right now.
So we just don’t want people getting in that water,” she said. “It’s a dangerous situation out there.”
Evacuations ordered for Burlington as water enters homes
Officials in Skagit County, Washington, are urging residents of Burlington to evacuate immediately as floodwater spills into homes.
The National Guard is going door-to-door to notify Burlington residents and to help evacuate, the county said. Burlington is located along the Skagit River, which reached a record high Friday morning.
The water is coming from Gages Slough, a natural drainage area and waterway in Burlington, officials said.
Whatcom County resident describes 'very scary' flooding in community
Abby Yates has seen terrible flooding before, but the flooding happening now in her Whatcom County, Washington, community feels different.
“It’s been very scary,” Yates, an emergency response team member from the Nooksack Tribe, told CNN. “You can literally hear these giant boulders going down, huge cedar trees going down the river. It’s just really unbelievable.”
Her community is still recovering from the 2021 floods, but is now dealing with new devastating impacts, she told Kate Bolduan on CNN News Central this morning.
Yates highlighted the rapid movement of the floodwaters, which she said appeared faster than in 2021. “It was higher then, at my home, than it was this time, but the water was much faster this time,” she said.
“People literally just got their homes fixed, or are still in the process of fixing their homes from the last major flood in 2021, and it’s been really devastating - to finally feel like they have their home back, they have that sense of security - and now they’re starting all over again,” Yates told CNN.
Washington's rivers have crested. Here's where they set new records
Rivers across western Washington have crested and will start slowly coming down after reaching major and even record levels this week.
Record flooding occurred on at least four rivers across western Washington, with three of them surpassing their previous highest crests from just over 35 years ago:
• Skagit River near Mount Vernon: It topped the previous record of 37.4 feet set in November 1990 Thursday evening. The river crested early Friday morning and is now slowly falling.
• Snohomish River at Snohomish: It broke its record of 33.5 feet from November 1990 on Thursday morning. The river is still above record flood stage as of early Friday morning.
• Cedar River at Renton: On Thursday it surpassed its previous record high level of 17.13 feet set in November 1990.
• Nooksack River at North Cedarville: Crested just above its record set in a November 2021 flood on Thursday morning. This location has a much shorter period of record than the other locations listed above.
Dozens of families huddle in Mt. Vernon shelter as flooding threatens aging dike system
More than 100 people, around half of them children, are sheltering at a Red Cross shelter in Mount Vernon, CNN affiliate KING reported.
Dan French moved to the shelter with his wife, two daughters, and their five cats. Their home remained dry but he was unwilling to risk staying put.
“When you get to that point when they’re saying we recommend you evacuate, we’re not one of those stubborn people who sticks around,” he told KING.
As the Skagit River steadily rose, a lower-than-expected crest upriver brought some relief for residents downstream where a century-old dike system is being pushed to its limit, bolstered by temporary berms.
Dike commissioner Jason Vander Kooy expressed cautious relief. “I’m not ready to go home and take a nap … When the pressure builds, water will find a way beneath the dike,” he told KING.
Coast Guard rescues four people from a flooded home in Sumas
Four people were rescued from a flooded home in Sumas, Washington, Wednesday after rising water forced them into their attic, dramatic video from the US Coast Guard Northwest District shows.
Two Coast Guard helicopters responded to assist teams from Whatcom County Fire District and the US Border Patrol, who were unable to reach the survivors due to 8- to 10-foot-deep water surrounding the house, the Coast Guard said in a release.
One helicopter deployed a rescue swimmer onto a porch roof, where he assisted the survivors through a second-story attic window.
The crew then hoisted the first two individuals and transported them to safety, while the rescue swimmer stayed with the remaining two.
A second helicopter later hoisted the remaining survivors and retrieved the rescue swimmer.
There were no injuries, the Coast Guard said.
'It's unstoppable': Father watches river flood the ski town he helped build
Frank Martin stood on his porch, powerless, as the Skykomish River surged just 40 feet away, threatening the Washington ski town he has helped shape over the past 15 years.
As a builder, Martin has renovated homes, streetscapes and storm facilities throughout Skykomish, a community now flooded by relentless rainfall.
“You can see this rushing river that’s just unstoppable. There are 80-year-old trees running at 20 miles an hour down there,” Martin told CNN. “For most residents, their upper floor is dry and the bottom floor is flooded so it will be a case of pulling everything out, drying it and putting it back together.”
The widespread damage makes Martin feel like what he spent years helping to build is being wiped out in days. “It’s like betting all your chips in one hand and then all of a sudden, you lose it all.”
Martin said he evacuated with his wife and three children before the worst of the storm hit.
He praised the community’s spirit and resilience, describing how one neighbor opened her home as a shelter – stocked with flashlights, firewood and whiskey – while a fire crew helped transport people past blocked roads, and others offered fuel to others relying on generators during the power outage.
Skagit River floodwaters reach record level near Mount Vernon
Water levels on the Skagit River reached a record high of 37.62 feet near Mount Vernon Thursday night.
The previous record was set in 1990, when the Skagit River had a historic crest of 37.4 feet near Mount Vernon, based on statistics from the National Water Prediction Service.
Flood levels are predicted to max at 46.13 feet in the city of Concrete, and 42.13 feet in Mount Vernon, according to Skagit County’s forecast on Thursday.
The National Water Prediction Service forecasts a peak of 38.06 feet near Mount Vernon at early Friday.
Skagit County was looking to evacuate about 75,000 people on Wednesday as everyone living in the 100-year-old floodplain had been told to prepare to leave at a moment’s notice.
Hundreds of animals in Snohomish evacuated
Hundreds of animals have been evacuated to emergency stables across Snohomish County as flooding threatens barns and farms along the river, CNN affiliate KOMO TV reported on Thursday.
Evergreen State Fair Park took in 171 horses, 104 cows, 94 goats, and 21 chickens from local owners at its emergency stables, the site’s marketing specialist Amy Craven said.
“They’re very thankful that they have a place that they can go to take their animals,” Craven told KOMO TV, adding that stables have been quickly filling up all week.
Dozens brought to safety in Sumas as floodwaters reach up to 15 feet
Dozens of residents were rescued in Sumas, Washington, where water levels reached up to 3 feet in some areas and more than 15 feet in others.
Local farmers with tractors joined the rescue effort, alongside volunteer firefighters, local law enforcement, volunteer search and rescue, the US Coast Guard and US Border Patrol’s Borstar unit, Moe said.
Those rescued were taken to local shelters in the neighboring city of Lynden.
“This is the third major flood we’ve had in Sumas in five years, so many of our residents were just getting everything back to ‘normal’ after losing everything only a few years ago,” Moe added.
Several cities in Whatcom County experienced heavy flooding and damage after the Nooksack River dike was damaged, emergency officials said in a Facebook post.
Residents in Sumas, Nooksack, Everson, Marietta and portions of Ferndale were evacuated Wednesday after the river rose above levels recorded during a 2021 flood.
Watch: Dozens of pumpkins bob in flooded field
This field in Kent, Washington, has been flooded for several days, Jason Garland told CNN. The deluge sent dozens of pumpkins floating across the water.
The city, south of Seattle, is currently under flood watch as an atmospheric river dumps rain on the area, putting more stress on already swollen rivers.
The nearby Green River briefly went into moderate flood territory on December 9 and is forecast to rise again on December 12.
"Historic situation": Skagit River set a flood record in 2021 — and this deluge is expected to top that
The Skagit River flood is expected to crest at levels that Washington has never seen.
Flood levels are predicted to max at 46.13 feet in the city of Concrete, and 42.13 feet in Mount Vernon, according to Skagit County.
In 2021, the Skagit River set a record crest at 38.93 feet in Concrete and 33.11 feet in Mount Vernon. The floodwaters damaged 75% of the homes in the town of Sumas.
While flooding isn’t rare in the state, Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson said this year’s flood shouldn’t be taken lightly.
Ferguson has declared a statewide emergency and advised residents to evacuate according to their local authorities’ instructions.
