WA declares emergency as historic flooding puts 100K at risk of evacuation

Gov. Bob Ferguson declared a statewide emergency Wednesday as flooding spread across Washington and emergency officials prepared to evacuate 100,000 residents living along the Skagit River.

On Wednesday afternoon, the governor and officials with the Washington State Military held a press conference at Camp Murray, near Joint Base Lewis-McChord. 

Ferguson said that the state intends to seek federal funds to cover the costs of emergency work, which Ferguson anticipates "will be significant".

Residents are urged to follow all alerts and instructions from local emergency management departments. 

WA Governor Bob Ferguson signs statewide emergency declaration due to widespread flooding

What they're saying:

"I just signed a statewide emergency declaration in response to the intense flooding Washington State and Washingtonians are experiencing this week," said Gov. Ferguson. "This, of course, allows us to seek federal funds to cover the cost of this response, which we anticipate will be significant. It also gives us the flexibility we need to respond quickly to keep Washingtonians safe in a fast-moving situation."

"We are, as you might imagine, in regular contact with local governments, tribal governments and the federal government. I just finished a call, for example, with the National Weather Service. We've been in communication with FEMA region ten and the Army Corps of Engineers."

"At 2 p.m. I have a call. I have a call with FEMA region 10 to request an expedited emergency declaration from the federal government. We need the federal government to grant that request. This is critical. If granted, that emergency allows us to safety and emergency protective measures and additional federal resources, which will be key for us to address the extremely challenging situation that Washingtonians are facing right now."

"I do want to encourage all Washingtonians to listen carefully to alerts from your county emergency management departments. If you receive an evacuation order. Please, please follow that order. This is critical for your safety. Look, the impact on Washingtonians is significant now, and it's going to be significant in the coming days. And that is an understatement. We're mindful of that, which is why we're working so hard."

"And you're seeing people in this room working so hard to address the situation as quickly as we can. Understand it's a challenging week for many of our state. My team understands we're putting everything we can into the situation to respond as quickly as we can. We deeply appreciate, deeply appreciate all the first responders and many others who are out there in the field helping Washingtonians as they deal with protecting their homes, their businesses, their lives, their pets, their loved ones."

"I'll be visiting impacted communities very soon. I'm working with the general on the right time to do that, but you'll see me out in communities as soon as that is appropriate. And again, I want to emphasize how important is that we get this declaration from the federal government. The situation is extremely serious. The next few days are going to be very critical."

"You'll hear more from the folks here about specifics of what we're facing, and then we'll be happy to answer any questions you have. Thank you very much."

WA National Guard ready to respond to potentially historic-level flooding

Major General Gent Welsh, commander of the Washington National Guard and director of the Washington Military Department spoke at the press conference regarding the military's prepared response to the flooding issues.

What they're saying:

"Folks, this is a very serious situation. When you see reports of record level flooding, not only just record level flooding, but historic level flooding. It's time to pay attention. There are going to be some serious impacts to communities around this state in the next 24 to 48 hours."

"Your Washington National Guard – thank you again for your leadership. Governor, thank you for signing that emergency declaration that allows us to get moving. So by the end of tonight, when the sun goes down, you will have over 100 Washington National Guard members surge to help local communities. And by the end of the day tomorrow, you'll have over 300 ready to go to include some of our best aviators and some of our best folks that really specialize in these types of rescues and public assistance."

WA emergency management prepared to evacuate 100,000 people

Dr. Robert Ezelle, Director of the Washington Military Department's Emergency Management Division, spoke during the press conference explaining the seriousness of this historic flooding, and how emergency crews are preparing to evacuate 75,000 people living in the low-lying Mount Vernon and Arlington areas.

Gov. Ferguson clarified later in the afternoon that as many as 100,000 Washingtonians face evacuation in the Puget Sound region.

"As Governor Ferguson and General Welsh has emphasized, we're dealing with a very dangerous, complex and rapidly evolving situation. As you can see, our state emergency operations center, we're working very closely with our county and tribal partners to quickly request to any or to respond to any of their requests for assistance."

"We're going to be here until this event is over. We're staffing 24/7 for the next few days to help out. We have people in this room from across state government, other state agencies, anybody who can lend a capability that would help our local partners. We anticipate the heavy rain that we've been experiencing for the last couple of days to continue and even increase in the afternoon and evening hours tonight, and continue into the night."

"This atmospheric river event is far from done, and we're receiving signals that it's going to be wet next week as well. So anticipate that this situation is going to continue over the next number of days. What we're seeing is multiple rivers all the way from the border with Canada down to southwestern Washington are currently at moderate to major flood stage levels. And we're going to just see those levels increase as we go into tomorrow and Friday."

"Landslide risks are elevated statewide and will continue to be that way because of the saturated soils. And then we're expecting a number of rivers to reach or exceed record flood levels. Chief of these is the Skagit River."

"They've already put out alerting orders to evacuate. And we could anticipate, ‘Go Now’ orders coming as early as this evening. We anticipate levies not just on the river, but on many others being overtopped. And, we're hearing reports that the flood wall down in [Mount Vernon] could be, could be overtopped."

Editor's note: FOX 13 Seattle spoke with a spokesperson for the City of Arlington, who clarified that the city does not have a flood wall. They suspect Ezelle meant the flood wall in Mount Vernon and misspoke, as both cities are on the Skagit River.

"But it's not just the Skagit River that we're concerned about. We're seeing significant impacts along the Cowlitz River. Highway 12 is underwater in a number of, areas. The town of Randall is currently cut off. We see parts of Packwood cut off. And we're seeing that situation on a number of rivers across the state and even on the east side of the Cascades."

"In Pierce County – Right here, just a little bit east of where we are – we see 'Go Now orders already being issued for areas in Orting. And so, again, it's just a complex, evolving situation. And it's not just confined to a couple of river valleys. It's pretty much prevalent across western Washington."

"Our local governments are fully engaged. We have more than a dozen local emergency operation centers activated. Many counties have issued disaster declarations. And we're seeing sheltering operations in a number of the hardest hit counties. Again, what we're doing here, the important work that my team is doing is coordinating support from across state government to help our local partners."

"I'll just wrap up, to echo the pleas of, Governor Ferguson and, General Welsh, please follow evacuation orders. Keep yourself safe. If there's high water out there, don't drive into it. And, just do everything that you can. Listen to the news. Be aware of the situation and take the appropriate actions that you need to protect yourselves and your families."

WA Department of Transportation plans for more heavy rain, flooded roadways

"Good afternoon, everybody. ust a brief transportation update: WSDOT certainly saw this forecast coming and planned ahead. And we have our crews out in full force. Looking at state highways across the state, particularly here on the west side, to take care of water over the roadway issues. We are poised to reopen roadways when it's safe to do to when it's safe to do so."

"I would emphasize safety is job one here. Good source of information if travelers need it. And I would encourage travelers to plan ahead for any trips in affected areas. The WSDOT app, the WSDOT website, is a great source for travel information and our real-time travel map. So plan ahead and be safe out there."

Will WA get federal funding for devastating floods, even if WA was denied funding for last year's bomb cyclone?

The backstory:

Last year, Washington was denied federal funding to deal with the aftermath of the bomb cyclone that swept through the western portion of the state. Governor Bob Ferguson was asked about his concerns regarding the funding he's currently requesting.

What they're saying:

"Obviously, I'm acutely aware of the denial before, and I shared my thoughts about that in the past – I won't repeat those here. What I will say right now is that, you know, lives will be at stake in the coming days, and we need the federal government to do what's entirely appropriate here, which is to declare an emergency that taps into the resources and the assistance from the federal government that literally can help us save lives and help individuals save their homes and their property and their livestock."

"I look forward to the 2:00 call where I'll be laying out the impacts. The fact that that Skagit River – which over 100 years we've been recording flooding at the Skagit River –  we anticipate this will exceed that by multiple feet. That this is a very, very serious situation. So, you know, all I can really say in response to your question is we need them to approve it and we'll be doing everything we can to make sure they have all the information that lays out very, very clearly what's happening here in Washington state. You bet. Yes. Thank you."

Is the major flooding in WA really considered life-threatening?

The governor was asked by a reporter if he would describe this weather system as "life-threatening" right now.

What they're saying:

"I think any time you have literally tens of thousands of folks who may be facing evacuation orders… yes. By definition, that becomes a life-threatening situation."

"Once again, it is critical that folks listen carefully to those orders. And if they receive an evacuation order, they need to put their safety first and deal with those. So yes, absolutely. This is historic flooding. Our state has seen some big floods in our history. And anytime you have the potential and what's really being predicted of literally record-setting flooding on the Skagit River, by definition, that puts people in jeopardy."

If flooding is happening in western WA, why is an emergency being declared statewide?

"So there's a reason why I declare this a statewide emergency, because this is impacting folks all across the state," said Gov. Ferguson. "It's not just Skagit County or just Lewis County. It's a statewide problem that we have, and it's a very fluid problem that we have. So we're very mindful of whether it's businesses, homes, lives, livestock."

"The impacts are real for many Washingtonians and businesses. That's why we're all working so hard. You're seeing that right here in this room. There's lots of folks outside this room who are out there trying to address this as quickly as we can. That's also why we need the coordination of government, which we're getting at the local level, and why we need it from the federal government as well."

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