What we're covering
• Active water rescues: Rivers across western Washington are bursting their banks and inundating towns and homes with fast-moving floodwater, forcing water rescues, some by helicopter.
• Evacuations underway: As many as 100,000 people in Washington face potential evacuations as the flood danger rises. Many are in Skagit County, where the entire 100-year floodplain has been ordered to evacuate.
• Rivers rise, records fall: Several rivers in Washington hit major flood stage, the most severe level, after more than 10 inches of rain drained into the waterways. Others topped records, and some are still rising and threatening to do the same.
Neighborhood in Sumner, Washington, told to evacuate due to levee leaks
Residents in the Rainier Manor neighborhood of Sumner, Washington, are being told to evacuate due to leaks in a nearby levee, the city posted on X.
Residents should leave now, it said.
Crews are on the way to add more sandbags to the levee, but there are flooding concerns as the Puyallup River is expected to rise before it crests at 4:00 p.m. local time.
Sumner is over 10 miles east of Tacoma.
Evacuation orders and highway closures in British Columbia because of flooding
Authorities in British Columbia, Canada, have issued evacuation orders and closed some highways, mostly in the Fraser Valley east of Vancouver, as the province grapples with the same severe flooding inundating its neighbors in Washington state.
Residents in some parts of Abbotsford, a city near the border with Washington, have been ordered to evacuate their homes due to dangerous floodwaters from the Nooksack River. As of 11 a.m. local time today, at least 400 properties there were under evacuation orders, according to the city’s website.
A map from the province’s Transportation Ministry shows numerous highway closures today, including at a border crossing with the United States.
Emergency Management Minister Kelly Greene told reporters this morning that the province, which experienced significant flooding in 2021, is “prepared for difficult days and nights ahead.”
Photos show extent of flooding in Snohomish County
Hundreds of people have been evacuated from Snohomish County, where the Snohomish River has risen to a record high and set off dangerous and historic flooding.
As of 1 p.m. local time, the river had risen to 34.10 feet, surpassing a previous record set in 1990.
Photos from the ground and the air show extensive flooding in the area, with floodwaters surrounding homes and trapping livestock on tiny strips of land.
Residents of northern Idaho town told to leave area after major road washes out
Some residents in the town of Clark Fork, Idaho, are advised to leave the area after a major road was washed out following heavy rainfall, the Bonner County Sheriff’s Office said.
Around 330 to 400 residents are sheltering in place nearby as they are stuck because of the road closure, according to the Spokane branch of the National Weather Service.
“Affected residents have been contacted and services offered to assist them in leaving the area,” the Bonner County Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook post. “Alternate access to the area is extremely limited and we request that people stay out of the area” to allow for residents to exit and for emergency crews to get in and out.
The atmospheric river also dumped several inches of rain in parts of northern Idaho in the past few days. That’s caused levels on area waterways to surge in multiple communities, including Clark Fork. Lightning Creek in Clark Fork has risen about 9 feet since Monday and peaked at a record 19 feet Thursday morning.
Cities in Whatcom County flood after damage to Nooksack River dike
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 nearby Nooksack River rose above levels recorded during a 2021 flood that devastated local communities.
Whatcom County is in northwest Washington, at the Canadian border. The border crossing in Sumas is closed due to flooding, and Everson City Hall and some businesses in the area were damaged overnight, county officials said, adding more assessments of the damage there would take place today.
A landslide overnight also damaged one home in Kendall and flooding led to several bridge closures in the county, they said.
Washington governor talking with FEMA amid emergency declaration request
Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson says he’s met with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and is attempting to secure federal assistance to recover from historic river flooding across the state.
His focus will be on what the state is currently facing while also persuading the federal government on the gravity of the situation, Ferguson said.
“The descriptions that we’ve heard from the federal government yesterday, the National Weather Service, as describing it as potentially catastrophic and potentially having significant loss of life, still remains in place. That is our approach to this,” he said.
The governor said he plans to meet with FEMA officials again today.
Rain is tapering off in Washington, but another atmospheric river looms for next week
Rain from the days-long atmospheric river is finally coming to an end, but the dangerous river flooding will continue in western Washington as the water winds its way through the watershed.
However, there’s a new potential threat brewing next week.
A weak system will bring light rain Sunday, but a stronger storm hauling a new atmospheric river into the Pacific Northwest is right on its heels Monday. It could be followed by yet another storm Tuesday into Wednesday.
Details on the severity of the threat are still coming into focus, but the ground is already soaked, so more heavy rain could swell up rivers and streams quickly and trigger additional landslides.
Drone video shows floodwaters up to roofs of houses in Hamilton
Flooding along the Skagit River inundated Hamilton, Washington. This drone video shows floodwaters up to the roofs of people’s houses.
No major rescues in Skagit County as National Guard arrives in the area
There have been no major rescue operations so far in Skagit County, Sheriff’s Office Lt. Jeffrey Willard said during a briefing Thursday.
The sheriff’s office is doing patrols to make sure anyone having issues with flooding can get assistance, he said.
There are currently 100 National Guard troops in the county, with 200 more on the way, according to state Emergency Management Director Robert Ezelle.
GO NOW evacuation notice issued for parts of Pierce County
Authorities are going door-to-door in South Prairie, Washington, in Pierce County, urging residents to leave their homes immediately as water rises there.
The Pierce County Sheriff’s Office previously said that at least 25 people have been rescued in the county since Wednesday, including in South Prairie.
Water rescues ongoing in Pierce County
About 25 people have been rescued from their flooded Pierce County, Washington, homes since Wednesday, Pierce County Deputy Carly Cappetto told CNN Thursday.
And that number is changing quickly, Cappetto said, as swiftwater teams in the South Prairie area and Wilkinson areas are actively conducting rescues from several other homes.
Many of those in need of rescue are elderly or don’t have the means or resources to leave on their own, Cappetto said.
Authorities safely rescued a 64-year-old wheelchair- bound man on Thursday morning after his family called 911 for help when water started quickly entering his home, Cappetto said.
This morning, the department’s sheriff said the flooding is among some of the worst he’s ever seen.
Watch: Raging floodwaters tear through a state park
Many parts of western Washington are still experiencing heavy rain and intense flooding as an atmospheric river hammers the region.
Video captured Wednesday at Olallie State Park in North Bend, around 36 miles east of Seattle, shows torrents of water surging through the area.
Trapped person, dog rescued in rising floodwater
Eastside Fire & Rescue crews extracted a resident and dog from their Duvall, Washington home, which was surrounded by deep floodwater Thursday.
Restaurant surrounded by water in Silvana, WA
Willow Payne stayed overnight at her restaurant Willow & Jim’s Country Cafe as floodwaters rose and covered streets and awoke Thursday morning to the restaurant surrounded by fast-moving water.
Skagit River hits major flood stage near Mount Vernon
The Skagit River near Mount Vernon has been rising steadily all morning and is now in major flood, the most severe level.
Major flood stage is 32 feet and the river is forecast to rise another 7 feet beyond that level when it crests Friday morning. That would easily break the previous record high flood level of 37.4 feet from November 1990.
When the river reaches 36 feet, severe flooding occurs from Sedro-Woolley downstream to Mount Vernon and the river’s mouth, according to the National Weather Service.
Watch: What it looked like on the ground as major flooding hit western Washington
Jonathan Petramala reports from Gold Bar, Washington, where some rivers and streams started climbing toward their highest levels in years Wednesday.
The video shows rising water surrounding homes and leaving some residents stranded on higher ground.
Hundreds evacuated from Snohomish County flooding
Hundreds of people have been evacuated from Snohomish County, where the Snohomish River has risen to a record high and set off dangerous and historic flooding, according to the Snohomish County Joint Information Center.
A look at the evacuations by the numbers:
- Sultan: 290 people
- Ebey Island: 150 people
- Tualco: 250 people
- Three Rivers Mobile Home Park: 100 people
The latest: The river has risen to 33.82 feet as of 9 a.m. local time, surpassing a previous record of 33.50 feet set in a November 1990 flood. When the river hits 33 feet, floodwaters are expected to overtop levees, making major levee damage a possibility, according to the National Weather Service.
Watch: Drone captures aerial view of Snohomish River floodwaters
This aerial view shows the floodwaters along the Snohomish River in Snohomish, Washington, on Thursday morning as it reached a new record high.
The footage, captured by a drone, shows the water spilling from the banks of the river and covering some portions of nearby roadways.
Check out the aerial scene here:
Experimental NWS tool shows areas along the Skagit River likely to flood
The Skagit Valley looks to face the brunt of the river flooding, as the northern Cascades have seen the highest rainfall totals, receiving over a foot of rain in the past three days.
A record flood crest is expected to move down the valley towards the sea, spreading swift-moving floodwaters through the region. A new experimental tool from the National Weather Service displays which areas are likely to be underwater based on the current river flood forecasts.
The visualization above shows how far beyond its banks the Skagit River will reach during the peak flooding expected on Friday near the town of Sedro-Woolley and Mount Vernon.
The river is already nearing major flood stage on Thursday and is forecast to rise another 8 feet and reach a new historic high on Friday.
Skagit River hits highest level in more than 20 years
The Skagit River’s water level near Concrete, Washington, eclipsed 41 feet Thursday morning. It’s the highest the river has surged since October 2003, when the still-standing record of 42.2 feet was set.
Water levels in the area jumped more than 14 feet in just 24 hours and may rise nearly another foot in the coming hours.
Once the river surpasses 40 feet, it causes “severe, near-record flooding from Rockport downstream through Sedro Woolley,” according to NOAA.
“Deep and swift flood waters will inundate and damage roads, farms and business and residential areas, especially (in) Cape Horn, Hamilton and Thunderbird.”
