December 4, 2007
Chehalis, Washington
Photographer states :: The area I live in has been hit hard with flooding. Here's Chehalis Denny's - and this isn't the first time this restaurant flooded. They are saying it's worse than 1996!
Weekend storm melts snow at ski resorts (click here)
By JENNIFER LANGSTONP-I REPORTER
It was too much to hope that Monday's storm dumped epic amounts of snow on area ski resorts. Instead, it washed newly fallen powder down the mountains.
· Check the P-I snow sports page for the latest conditions on the slopes
At the Mt. Baker Ski Area, which closed Monday but plans to reopen Thursday, base snow levels went from 54 inches to 36 inches in a day.
"We opened last Thursday with absolutely spectacular conditions -- a gorgeously sunny day with beautiful light powder snow. And it seems like a year ago," said Gywn Howat, Mt. Baker's spokeswoman.
Stevens Pass ski area, which plans to open for the first time Thursday with at least some of its lifts, also lost 20 inches of snow after getting blanketed with 4 feet.
"We got a significant amount of snow over the weekend, and it's been melting and consolidating and whatnot since then," said spokesman Chris Rudolph, who said the base depth at Stevens Pass was now 34 inches. "But with the duration of this rain, it's incredible that there's as much snow as there is."
With freezing levels expected to drop Tuesday and Wednesday, ski areas are hoping to eke out an additional 4 to 8 inches of snow before the area dries out.
Efforts to reach Crystal Mountain ski area, which opened briefly over the weekend but closed Monday, were unsuccessful. But the resort's Web site, which listed rainy conditions with a base depth of 42 inches, said a tentative reopening is scheduled for Thursday.
The Summit at Snoqualmie, which decided not to open last weekend because of the imminent storm, plans to assess Wednesday how soon it can start operating.
It has a base depth of 30 inches at Alpental and 28 inches at Summit West, but those numbers don't mean much until they can investigate conditions on the hill, Summit spokesman Guy Lawrence said.
"We'll be going out with a groomer and playing around, really seeing how stable it is underneath and how much we can move around," he said. "Obviously, we'd like to get a weekend started here soon."
SKI REPORTS
For the latest on snow conditions and resort openings, check these Web sites:
Crystal Mountain: skicrystal.com
The Summit at Snoqualmie: summitatsnoqualmie.com/winter/conditions.asp
Stevens Pass: stevenspass.com/Stevens/snowreport.aspx
Mt. Baker Ski Area: mtbaker.us/snowreport/index
White Pass Ski Resort: skiwhitepass.com/conditions/index.html
Northwest Weather and Avalanche Center: nwac.us/forecasts.htm
P-I reporter Jennifer Langston can be reached at 206-448-8130 or jenniferlangston@seattlepi.com.
I-5 still closed; Wash. flood damage could top $1 billion (click title to entry, thank you)
By CHRIS McGANNP-I REPORTER
CENTRALIA -- For evacuees returning to homes still swamped by several feet of brown water, the personal toll from this week's floods was obvious, devastating and in some cases complete.
But the full extent of the losses remains an open question as state officials scramble to quantify and respond to the misery.
The devastation is so widespread that emergency management officials are unable to provide even rough estimates of how much damage has taken place.
"We are talking an unfathomable amount," said Kyle Herman, a spokesman for the state Emergency Management Division, which is collecting data from local officials throughout the flooded areas. "We won't know until the end of the week at the earliest."
With extensive damage in King, Lewis, Pacific, Mason, Kitsap, Thurston, Grays Harbor and Wahkiakum counties, Herman said the number of homes and businesses that have been destroyed or damaged will likely be measured in thousands rather than hundreds.
In terms of dollar value, Gov. Chris Gregoire would only hint at the magnitude of the problems....
At least 5 dead in storm; mudslides, avalanches follow deluge
Copters rescue more than 150 people from flooded areas
By CHRIS McGANN
P-I REPORTER
CENTRALIA -- South of here, just past the Skookumchuck River, Interstate 5 ends. In place of Western Washington's main freeway lies a vast expanse of muddy water.
"I've lived here 26 years, and I've never run a jet boat down I-5 before," said Adam Boehm, a volunteer who is helping get supplies to people who need them. "It's pretty unbelievable."
Trees, trash bins and shipping containers bobbed on the brown water as volunteers in boats helped ferry food and other items from a local Wal-Mart to people cut off by flooding.
Department of Transportation officials said the highway -- which is under as much as 10 feet of water along a three-mile stretch -- would not reopen until Thursday or Friday and only then if the road is not seriously damaged.
The lake that I-5 became is the most visible example of the mess that remains throughout Western Washington because of flooding from this week's storm.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/342208_storm05.html
Climate change could mean more massive downpours
By LISA STIFFLER AND TOM PAULSON
P-I REPORTERS
That sump pump you rented to suck out the standing water in your basement? You might want to ask Santa to leave you one under the tree this year.
Record-setting storms like the one Sunday and Monday that flooded the Northwest could become more of the norm as climate change skews our region's rainfall patterns and leads to more of these massive deluges as compared to the typical drizzle.
It's not guaranteed, but scientists said that multiple computer climate models predict an increased likelihood of more rain -- and more episodes of heavier rainfall -- in fall and winter, less in the summer.
Monday Seattle logged nearly 5 inches of rain and scored the second rainiest day on record. First place still goes to a rainy day in October 2003.
"There is a risk under climate change of having more storms of this nature," said Eric Salathe, a research scientist with the University of Washington's Climate Impacts Group.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/342268_stormwater05.html
Truckers wait out flooding on I-5 -- at a cost of $4 million a day
By ANDREA JAMES
P-I REPORTER
The storm that hit the Puget Sound area Monday is having a devastating effect on commerce after swamping Interstate 5, the main artery that connects Seattle to Portland, and burying in mud several rail connections north and south of Seattle.
The effect and closures could last for days and into the weekend, according to Washington's Department of Transportation.
Hundreds of trucks waited Tuesday on either side of a 20-mile stretch of I-5, between mileposts 68 and 89, while parts of the highway sat under 10 feet of water. The highway could be closed until at least Thursday -- longer if the roads and bridges are found damaged after the flooding recedes.
About 54,000 vehicles traverse that portion of the highway daily, and 10,000 of those are trucks. The I-5 delays alone are expected to cost businesses $4 million a day, the Transportation Department estimates.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/342236_stormbiz05.html
