Spring Cleaning More Like a Mop-up
The Twin Harbors is a declared disaster area, while Sheriff Dennis Morrisette has never seen "so many problems" at once.
MONTESANO Thomas Achenbach and Rob Alexander had planned to spend Wednesday kayak surfing off the coast when they set out from Seattle Tuesday night.
Instead, they ended up in a Red Cross shelter in Montesano, and spent the day piecing together a jigsaw puzzle and watching a movie about a talking pig.
Not exactly what the 27-yearolds had in mind.
They could have gone surfing on Highway 12.
LIKE thousands of Harborites, the Seattleites found themselves stranded by floodwaters that blocked the major artery to the coast in two places, leaving Montesano marooned.
"Actually, it's been good," Alexander said. "It's been sort of a nice, mellow day."
For them, maybe. For emergency services workers, Red Cross volunteers and Harborites who became orphans of the storm, it was an exhausting day worthy of the record books. And the cleanup will be neither fun nor cheap.
"In the 19 years I've been here, I have never seen so many problems occurring simultaneously in so many different parts of the county," said Sheriff Dennis Morrisette.
Grays Harbor and Pacific counties, which have both endured the worst flooding in years, were declared in states of emergency by Gov. Locke. That's essential in seeking disaster assistance.
THE good news is that today, the first day of spring, the worst of the flooding appears to be over.
The Satsop and Wynoochee rivers crested Wednesday, and the flood waters receded enough overnight to allow Highway 12 to reopen.
Most residents who had to be evacuated along the Humptulips River north of Hoquiam were also beginning to return home overnight, according to the Grays Harbor Department of Emergency Management.
"We're currently doing welfare checks and assessing the damages," Detective Ed McGowan, the county's search and rescue coordinator, said this morning.
The Chehalis River is still a concern, but officials hope flooding will be minor when the crest reaches the Porter area sometime Friday morning.
VERNON and Sherry Martin and their family had to be airlifted by Coast Guard helicopter from their home on the Brady Loop Road after they awoke Wednesday morning to floodwaters surrounding their home.
The Martins, their two children, Jennifer, 14, and Steven, 11, and a family friend, Jerry Peacock, spent the day at the Red Cross Shelter at the United Methodist Church in Montesano.
The family members had only 15 minutes from the time they learned they had to be airlifted until the helicopter actually arrived in their yard.
A tired Mrs. Martin said yesterday afternoon it all went so quickly. In that time, they had to grab an extra set of clothes, set some of the valuables on tables, move their car to higher ground and grab all the necessary medications.
They locked their two dogs in a bedroom upstairs and left their two cats to fend for themselves, Mrs. Martin said.
"The bird's in the birdcage, the fish, they can swim. I mean, what can you do?" Mrs. Martin said as she sat with her children watching "The Return of the Jedi" on videotape.
"But you start thinking about the other things later," she said. "I was just thinking, where's Grandpa's books? "
MEANTIME, the Red Cross Shelter at the Copalis Crossing fire hall is still serving meals, and the shelter at the Methodist Church is still providing full service, according to Shirley Matthews, manager of the Grays Harbor Chapter of the Red Cross .
Volunteers estimated more than 30 people used the shelter at Montesano. A total of 19 stayed last night and nine remained this morning, Matthews said.
Matthews said the Red Cross put up three other families in motels after they were flooded out of their homes in Westport, North River and East Satsop.
Both the Montesano and Elma food banks will be open Friday and will provide bottled water for anyone who needs it -
The Montesano Food Bank is at the senior center and will be open from 1 to 3 p.m. The Elma Food Bank is at City Hall and will be open from 1 to 4 p.m.
MORE than 300 people had been asked to evacuate their homes in the middle of the night Tuesday as torrential rains spilled rivers over their banks, overflowed the Wynoochee Dam and threatened the integrity of at least one levee on the Humptulips River near Copalis Crossing.
Some immediately heeded the warnings, while others waited until they found themselves isolated by floodwaters that crept onto their property, and in many cases, into their homes.
Emergency workers performed more than two dozen rescues, seven of them by a Coast Guard helicopter from Astoria, according to officials.
Some of the evacuations occurred in the Lake Quinault area and along the banks of the Humptulips River. But most were in East County, from Montesano east, according to Undersheriff Mike Whelan.
Whelan said some of the rescues have been particularly difficult because of the limited access the floodwaters have caused.
Firefighters say the dirty floodwaters also caused headaches, clogging rescue boats and causing them to stall.
VOLUNTEER firefighters at Brady rescued an 86-year-old woman from the Brady Bottoms area and an elderly couple and their son from their home in the Satsop area.
The floodwaters were chest high in the Satsop home, and the family had to climb out a second story window.
Firefighters say they were investigating another house when they noticed the elderly couple's son standing on the roof.
An additional boat was called in, and firefighters used a ladder to evacuate all three and their dog and made sure they made it safely to a relative's house.
"I'm glad we spotted them before it got dark," said firefighter Bob Kiser.
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