Neither rain nor sleet nor snow nor gloom of night shall deter a carrier from his appointed rounds.
So goes the famous motto of the U.S. Postal Service.
But swimming is not a job requirement and there's nothing that says mail carriers must tunnel through mudslides to get to your house.
On Wednesday, record flooding meant dozens of rural roads were either covered by water or closed by slides.
Even worse was the closure of Highway 12 the main artery connecting Harborites to each other and the rest of the world.
While mail carriers on Grays Harbor are used to getting their feet wet the closure of Highway 12 meant many couldn't get to work.
But area postmasters report their shorthanded crews took on big loads and valiant efforts resulted in mail deliveries wherever possible.
"The crew did a great job here," said Aberdeen Postmaster Chuck Cox. Eleven people including him couldn't get to work yesterday.
"Everyone was carrying a piece of somebody else's route plus their own," he said. But carriers only missed 37 of the 450 deliveries up the Wishkah Valley because of the flooding.
"We probably delivered 15 routes with 10 employees," Cox said.
The Daily World was able to deliver to about 97 percent of its subscribers, reports Gerry Atkinson, subscription services manager,
This morning, the state Department of Transportation reported just one closure Highway 107 outside Montesano. There's no word on when it might re-open since the Chehalis River won't crest in Grays Harbor until Friday sometime.
Also, Highway 101 going over the Cosi Hill is restricted to one lane due to construction.
Grays Harbor County public works officials report some two dozen roads remained closed this morning due to water and slides or a combination of both. The dozen roads under water could reopen at any time, while crews were working full speed to clear slides, said Bruce Clevenger, operations supervisor.
"You'll also see more roads in the Oakville area closed today as the Chehalis rises," he noted.
In Pacific County, Stephanie Fritts, the Emergency Management director, said she knows of no roads still closed today, and that inundated residents in the Naselle area have begun cleanup efforts.
" (The flooding) is not as extensive as it was yesterday," she said. "Today's been a great day."
Outside Montesano, Highway 107 remains an obstacle for mail carriers, notes Rich Klinger, interim postmaster, "and we don't know how far up the Wynoochee Valley we can get, and the Brady Bottoms are pretty bad yet, but other than that, we will get most of the mail delivered."
Yesterday, several Monte carriers couldn't make it to work, and rural deliveries were spotty. "But overall, they did a good job getting out what they could," Klinger said.
In Elma, Postmaster Dave Parks was among the tardy. He lives in Brady "and I wasn't able to make it to work until after 4 p.m.," he said. But the shorthanded crew was able to make most deliveries, he said, except for the route up the Satsop where "we were only able to make it to about 50" homes out of 450 on the route. There are still a few areas cut off by water or slides today, he said.
Parks has lived on the Harbor for 35 years "and I have never seen the water high as it was and I have never seen it cross the highway where it did" on either side of Montesano.
One final note about the mail: All the trucks got through to Olympia last night. As of 10 a.m. today, the county roads closed due to water included Black Creek; Boundary Road; Brady Loop Road,
Elma Gate East, Powell Road, Fairgrounds Road, O'Neal Road, Keys Road, Newman Creek Road, Pearson Road, Wenzel Slough Road, the Mox Chehalis Road, Devonshire Road from Higgins Slough to Katon Road; Katon Road, Burrows Road, Robertson Road, Tulips Road and Walker Bottom Road.
Roads closed due to water alone could re-open at any time.
County roads closed due to slides or a combination of water and slides include: Minkler Road, Strawberry Hill, Wynoochee Road south of Black Creek, Middle Satsop, West Satsop and East Satsop and the North River Road.
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