Floodwaters of historic proportions on the heels of a torrential downpour closed Highway 12 at Satsop and Montesano this morning, marooning hundreds of motorists and forcing many to flee their homes.
Muddy brown water flowed across all four lanes along a 500 foot stretch of the highway near Monte at 8 a.m.
"I've never seen it this bad," State Patrol Trooper Dan Burns said as he manned a roadblock on the west side of the overflow.
"I've been here since 1975, and it's never been across here. " More than 4 inches of rain have fallen on the Harbor 11.5 inches at the Wynoochee Dam since Tuesday morning.
AT LEAST 300 families were asked to evacuate from homes along the Wynoochee and Satsop rivers, according to sheriff's deputy Paul Wenzel, who said at least half have left their homes.
"It's just growing by the minutes up here, " Wenzel said. The river is expected to crest late this morning at 22 feet, Wenzel said. Flood stage is 19 feet.
Twenty people were rescued from their homes by emergency management workers in boats and a Coast Guard helicopter.
Volunteer firefighters in Elma said a number of evacuees were moved from Brady to Montesano because they feared high water would maroon them at Brady, where a temporary shelter had been set up at the Grange Hall.
"I'VE never seen Highway 12 closed (by flooding). Never," said Scott Howarth of Elma, a log-truck dispatcher who was out with other citizens watching the surging river.
A lifelong Harborite, Howarth said he's been telling truckers: "Stay home, boys. You ain't goin' no place. "
At the Rusty Tractor Restaurant in Elma, trucker John Cooke of Woodinville was stranded with a lot of other drivers. The parking lot was crammed with 18-wheelers.
"I'm just waiting to get the nod to turn around," said Cooke, whose truck was loaded with empty pallets bound for Ocean Spray at Markham. "Seems kinda silly to hang around for a bunch of empty pallets. "
ALL four lanes of U.S. 12 were closed in both directions at Satsop. Houses and cars along the freeway were partially submerged, with water up to the doorways from the flooding Satsop River. Two men in a skiff were floating along the fairways at Oaksridge Golf Course.
Flooding and mudslides caused numerous road closures. Showers were expected to continue tonight and Thursday, but the worst is probably over along the Satsop and Wynoochee Rivers, according to the National Weather Service.
"We're starting to see some receding," said Ted Buehner, a Weather Service spokesman, The Chehalis River was expected to crest this evening, Buehner said.
The 11.5 inches of rain in 24 hours at the Wynoochee Dam surpassed the 100-year record, according to Army Corps of Engineers officials.
Officials said river levels would have been about three feet higher without the storage of water in the dam. Late this morning, they said the rain intensity was diminishing.
Although the dam may have helped, evacuations and rescues were still necessary.
A Coast Guard helicopter rescued a family of five from the Brady Bottoms area late this morning and took them to a church in Montesano. Rescues were ongoing at presstime in the south end of the Satsop Valley.
There also have been rescues in the Lake Quinault area, according to officials.
ON Highway 12, past the West Wynoochee Road, the river was poised to take over another few hundred feet of the highway around 9 a.m.
A group of cows and tractor were stranded just off the big way, while the water had reached or was threatening to reach as many as 10 nearby homes on both sides the highway.
The water also appeared to have washed away some of the south edge of the highway, as chunks were visible below.
Nearby, off of Geissler Road some homes and garages were already partially underwater while one family was quickly clearing items out of their home in a canoe.
"We've been here 10 years and it's never been close (to the house)," said Diane Pinger who grows mushrooms in a Iab on the property. tors "My lab is not sterile any more," she said.
Gary and Judy Letzring didn't find out the result of the record downpour until they discovered their trailer had become marooned by the cresting Wynoochee River.
"There was no dry ground" as said Gary Letzring. "The water was all around the trailer (emergency workers) told us we were trapped." He said he phoned county officials around 1 a.m. "And by that time our boat had floated away."
The Letzrings, along with their two dogs, were rescued around 3 a.m. by firefighters who were forced to maneuver a boat up to the front porch of their trailer against the river's strong current.
"It was kind of hairy," Gary Letzring said of the rescue. "Nothin we've ever done before. And you can't say enough about the firemen heading off in the darkness trying to find somebody."
The Letzrings and their two dogs were transported to the Olympic View Grange in Brady. Later in the morning, county officials moved them to the United Methodist Church in Montesano for fear of evacuees being stranded.
"You watch it on TV, and you think, 'Oh those poor people,' Judy Letzring said. "Now those people are us." Jeff Dunn of Brady was awakened by a neighbor's phone call at 2 a.m. warning his family of the rising Satsop River. R
escuers came by boat to get Dunn, his wife and two children, as their house on Foster Road had become an island by 4 a.m. today.
"Everybody'd been surprised about how fast it's come up," said Jeff Dunn, an English teacher at Elma High School.
"It's more of a surprise in the middle of the night when you can't see it come up."
Rainfall amounts in western Washington from Sunday through 4 a.m. today, as measure by the National Weather Service:
Quillayute 7.70 Forks 12.03 Ocean Shores 6.7 Hoquiam 5.1 Long Beach 2.95 Chehalis 2.6 Olympia 3.94 Other significant precipitation amounts reported to the Weather Service:
Montesano 9 inches of rain in 24 hours ending at 8 .am. today. Cosmopolis 5.35 inches of rain in 24 hours ending at 8 a.m. today.