Swollen rivers spill into Snohomish County communities

SNOHOMISH, Wash. –Flood waters hammered the North Sound on Tuesday.

“It’s basically wait and watch,” said Jeanie Sharkey. “Sometimes when it comes over, it usually comes over a little faster.”

Sharkey and her other neighbors scrambled to get valuables out of the way of quickly rising flood water along Sexton Road.

“This is the earliest it’s ever flooded,” said Sharkey. “Normally we don’t have to even worry about flooding until the end of November.”

A stretch of homes were already surrounded by the overflowing Pilchuck River by Tuesday morning. Neighbors watched closely hoping the river didn’t rise much farther.

“Normally this is barely any water,” said Nina Davis. “This is news to me that I’ve never seen this so deep.”

Farther north in Snohomish County, the Stillaguamish River flooded and trapped some cars in deep water near the small community of Silvana.

Drone video showed some parts of town isolated.

Back near the city of Snohomish, the rising Pilchuck forced crews to close a stretch of Orchard Avenue.

The flood waters also forced some to scramble to save property from being swept away.

“We had a picnic table that was under water, so we moved it out so it didn’t get downstream,” said Paul West.

Flooding in this area isn’t new but some neighbors say they weren’t prepared to see the Pilchuck rise so quickly.

“This was by surprise,” said Sharkey.