Storm causes record rainfall, flooding, mudslides in western Washington
KENT, Wash. -- A storm that has brought record rainfall to the Northwest has prompted flood warnings, disrupted train traffic, closed roads and caused some power outages.
In Washington state flood warnings were posted Friday for the Skokomish, Newaukum Tolt, Chehalis and Snoqualmie rivers and flood watches were in effect for other rivers. The National Weather Service also issued a flood watch for much of Northwest Oregon and Southwest Washington.
Seattle broke a daily rainfall record on Thursday with 2.69 inches of rain, making it the 15th wettest day ever recorded at the airport since records started being kept there in 1945. Forecasters are predicting that some areas, mostly south of Seattle, could see up to 8 inches total by Saturday.
Officials are asking people to steer clear and not to drive through floodwaters.
Mill Creek Middle School in Kent is also closed because of flooding around the school.
In Bellevue, classes are canceled Eastgate Elementary because of flooding in the area.
In Tacoma, several streets are closed due to flooding. Click here to see which roads are closed.
And in Renton, the railroad underpass on Hardie Avenue SW is closed because of high water.
Skokomish Valley Rd was closed in Mason County due to flooding. Mason County official say plan your route accordingly.
The King County Flood Warning Center has issued a Phase 3 flood alert for the Snoqualmie River, with moderate flooding possible in the Snoqualmie Valley. The Tolt River remains at a Phase 3 flood alert level, with flooding possible along the river east of Carnation.
About 3 to 6 inches of rainfall is expected by Saturday, along with heavy snow and possibly freezing rain in the mountains. Another 5-10 inches of snow is also expected in the Cascades.
We've got a flood watch until Sunday afternoon and flood warning for a bunch of rivers that are seeing minor to moderate flooding.
Friday night, the rain and breezy conditions continue for the lowlands, but the soggy mountain passes will start to see a transition back to snow as cooler temps work into the region. Most of our passes see rain during the day Friday and it will change over to snow as temps cool overnight.
There will be lots more snow on Saturday for all our mountain passes. Winter officially begins at 8:19 p.m.on Saturday. Saturday night looks mostly dry for the lowlands with overnight lows dropping into the 30s with a few scattered showers a possibility.
Sunday looks mostly cloudy and high temps will be in the seasonal mid 40s. There's a chance for some light showers in the late afternoon, but mostly for the mountains. That slight chance of showers continues into Monday and Tuesday.
Overnight lows hovering in the mid 30s means we'll be keeping an eye out for areas above 1,500 feet to maybe get a passing snow shower.
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Gus Melonas, a spokesman for BNSF, said all train traffic south of Tacoma, Washington, had been suspended Friday morning because debris from a landslide covered one set of tracks. Melonas, who said crews hoped to restore non-passenger train service by Friday afternoon, said debris from the slide was 3 feet deep and 50 feet wide.
Passenger train service would be suspended for at least 48 hours.