EVACUATIONS: 31 Chehalins find shelter with Red Cross after their apartments are inundated
By Jim Feehan and James Geluso, The Chronicle, The Chronicle, 11/28/98
Some residents of the Rochester and Oakville areas are literally trapped in their homes today as they wait for floodwaters to recede.
Meanwhile, 31 people, mostly from the Chehalis Avenue Apartments (see related information about fill in the area of these apartments) still were in the Red Cross shelter at the Chehalis United Methodist Church this morning.
A group had gone to check on the water at the apartment complex, but there was no word yet on whether the residents could return home, said Michaelle Forlie, a Red Cross volunteer.
"'They're anxious to go home," Forlie said. "Right now, we're just waiting".
She said the people came to shelter early Thursday.
Although those people remain dislodged, many Inland Southwest Washington's flooding problems are downstream along the Chehalis River in Thurston and Grays Harbor counties.
At midnight Thursday, the Chehalis River near Grand Mound crested at 17 feet, Lester Olsen, Thurston County director of road and transportation services, said today. Flood stage is 13.5 feet.
At 8 a.m. today, the river had receded to 16.73 feet at Grand Mound.
"We have no reports of inundated homes, but we're aware of people trapped in their home because of water surrounding them," Olsen said.
The Thurston County Sheriffs Office dive team was on alert Thursday night, but was not called out to conduct emergency rescues, he said.
The Red Cross had Rochester High school on standby to use as an emergency shelter.
"That meant they could activate the site within two hours," Olsen said. "But we didn't open it."
The Lucky Eagle Casino at the Chehalis Indian Reservation closed at 3:40 p.m. Thursday, according to Thurston County emergency services.
Ten thousand sandbags were distributed by count officials for flooding along the Chehalis and Deschutes rivers, Olsen said.
The 3.06 inches of rain that fell at Olympia Regional Airport on Wednesday shattered the previous Nov. 25 record of 2.33 inches in 1962.
Thanksgiving Day, 1.19 inches of rain was recorded at the airport.
In Centralia, 2.68 inches of rain fell Wednesday, setting a record. That figure dropped to .55 of an inch Thursday, but brought the monthly total to 11.7 inches. The November average is 5.55 inches.
The month of November also has had nearly twice the normal amount of precipitation in Thurston County, according to the National Weather Service.
To date in 1998, Centralia has received 43.85 inches of rainfall, compared to the average for this time of year of 35.6 inches.
The Chehalis River at Chehalis was at 68.2 feet at 8:20 a.m. today, after cresting at 69.7 at 8 p.m. Thursday. Flood level is 65 feet for the Chehalis River in Chehalis.
Chehalis police and fire department personnel assisted in evacuating residents of the Chehalis Avenue Apartments Thursday. Some 31 apartment dwellers were transported to a Red Cross shelter at the United Methodist Church on Market Boulevard in Chehalis.
Chehalis Fire Department crews also assisted evacuating some elderly residents on Prindle Street between Rhode Island Avenue and Interstate 5, Hamilton said. The residents were taken to family members' homes, he said.
Three Chehalis Public Works employees, who were inspecting the city's wastewater treatment facility, were trapped in their stalled dump truck. The fire department rescued the workers, Hamilton said.