I-5 closed due to flooding (1st time since 96)

THE main road between Seattle and Portland is under water as the rivers crest their banks.

The road is expected to be closed for the next 36 hours.

There is a detour route through the mountains... oh, that's closed due to snow slides.

The Red Cross has set up several evac centers in NW Oregon.

Wow, the coast has really been hit hard with wind. The rain has been pretty good here in Portland but thankfully the wind never came as expected. It's pretty amazing how different things are just on the other side of the coast range.

We were near the coast when the winds started on sunday, and within about 15 minutes 5 trees were down on the property we were at and power was out in the town. High-tailed it home to Portland to batten down the hatches, and the winds never really made it.

Watching the Northwest River Forecast Center is always interesting. Some rivers are over twice their flood stage.

State of Emergency declared on coastal counties

Map of events (quite a nice example of basic web technology to communicate)

Photos

Jason

I-5 is expected to be closed AT LEAST for 36 hours, but the authorities are expecting longer. There is a levee between the freeway and the Chehalis River. The water tends to flow over the levee, then gets trapped on the freeway. In 1996, the freeway was under 10 ft of water.

But there have been some local changes since the last flood. The city has allowed a lot of the low areas to be filled in, and they've built a Home Depot, Applebee's, Walgreen's Drug, etc on the fill. Since the water can't go there now, where DO they expect it to go? IMHO (well, IMO), the only thing more stupid than big-city managers and commissioners is small-town managers and commissioners. All they think about is the tax money they're going to make. I guess they expect someone else to clean up the mess afterward. It certainly won't be out of THEIR pockets, and I'll bet none of the city commissioners live on low ground.

Sue