Tens of thousands of people have been told to evacuate homes in Washington State, northwest America, to escape ‘catastrophic’, life-threatening, floods.
Days of relentless heavy rain have triggered rescues and road closures and the state’s governor, Bob Ferguson, declared a state-wide emergency on Wednesday, warning that “lives will be at stake in the coming days”.
“Catastrophic flooding is likely” in many areas and the state is requesting rescue teams and boats, Mr Ferguson said, as rivers reached near historic levels.
A large swathe of the Cascade mountains saw 4-6in of rain fall between late Tuesday and late Wednesday, the National Weather Service in Seattle said. Almost 7in was recorded in the Olympic Mountains.
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“Approximately 100,000 people in Washington State have been advised to evacuate,” Washington Emergency Management Division spokesperson Karina Shagren told CNN on Wednesday.
Hundreds of National Guard troops are being sent in to help stricken communities. A major road – Interstate 90 east of Seattle – has been blocked by a landslide leaving vehicles trapped by tree trunks, branches, mud and standing water.
The city of Mount Vernon, Washington, and upriver communities were given instructions to evacuate to higher ground as flooding is anticipated in the region, Mr Ferguson said on Wednesday.
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Hamilton, Rockport, Marblemount and Concrete are also being asked “to evacuate to high ground as soon as possible,” the governor said. More than a foot of rain is anticipated across higher parts of the Pacific Northwest.
Rainfall reached 3.03in at the Olympia Regional Airport on Monday, breaking the previous record of 2.5in, Sky’s US partner NBC News has reported.
More than 17,000 customers in Washington State had lost electricity by Wednesday night, according to PowerOutage.us.
In a valley leading out to the foothills of Mount Rainier southeast of Seattle, Pierce County sheriff’s deputies on Wednesday rescued people from a mobile home park in Orting, including one man who waded through waist-deep water in Santa hat.
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Part of the town was ordered to evacuate over concerns about the Puyallup River’s extremely high levels and upstream levees.
