Flooding, mudflows lead to state of emergency

Gov. Christine Gregoire declared a state of emergency Friday after nearly a month of rainy days has left millions of dollars of destruction from flooding, mudflows and landslides.

In her proclamation, Gregoire said the rain has caused more than $7.3 million of damage to transportation infrastructure in King, Pierce, Clallam, Skagit, Pacific, Grays Harbor, Lewis, Thurston, Jefferson, Mason, Kitsap and Spokane counties.

Gregoire's signature means the process to get federal funding — should the state request it — would be speeded up for these counties, said spokesman Lars Erickson.

"It also puts everyone on elevated alert — that we have emergencies we might have to deal with, and the governor expects you're going to be ready to address those," spokeswoman Holly Armstrong said.

Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski also made an emergency declaration Friday.

In addition to the destruction, the unrelenting water has produced a deluge of whining and renewed jokes about Seattle's dreariness. Still, Seattle isn't even Washington's wettest city, let alone the rainiest city in the country.

If Seattle's wet streak — which stood at 26 days Friday — exceeds the previous record of 33 consecutive days, set in 1953, it won't even be a blip in the national weather record books. No place compares with the achievement of Hawaii, where Kaneohe Ranch on the island of Oahu recorded 247 consecutive days of rain from Aug. 27, 1993, through April 30, 1994.

"Hawaii has some amazing rainfall statistics," said Jim Ashby, a climatologist with the Western Regional Climate Center in Reno, Nev.

Seattle had 0.57 of an inch of rain Thursday for a total of 12.41 inches since Dec. 19, when the city started on the path toward its own record, which it could match on Jan. 20 or beat on Jan. 21. Friday, another rainy day, was the 26th successive day of rain.

Ashby noted that rainy days in Hawaii are different from those with precipitation in the Pacific Northwest.

"It's not quite as overcast and dismal. You get some sun between," he said.

The wettest city in Washington? Centralia, which is about halfway between Seattle and Portland, set the Washington record for consecutive days of precipitation with 55 between late 1996 and early 1997.

Snow could have contributed to the record and "some of those days were just a hundredth of an inch," Ashby said.

Rivers around the Seattle area were still at or near flood conditions on Friday, although National Weather Service flood watches in Clallam, Grays Harbor, Jefferson, King, Lewis, Mason, Pierce, Skagit, Snohomish, Thurston and Whatcom counties were set to expire at the end of the day. No new mudslides have been reported, but officials have said ground saturation levels continue to make more slides possible.

BNSF Railway reopened its tracks to passenger trains Friday, 48 hours after a Wednesday landslide halted both Amtrak and Sound Transit's Sounder train service between Seattle and Everett.

In West Seattle, 7,500 customers lost power for a few hours early Friday morning after gusting winds and rain toppled a tree, which then knocked down a power line.

"The ground was so saturated that the tree's roots couldn't hold it in wind gusts," said Sharon Bennett, Seattle City Light spokeswoman.

The state Department of Transportation reported one new weather-related road closure. State Route 508 in Lewis County in Onalaska, which is a few miles south of Centralia, was closed Friday morning because of what officials are calling "severe settling," due to heavy rains. A detour was in place.

The Mount Baker Ski Area was closed Friday because of high avalanche danger. Ski area managers said the combination of deep snow, warming temperatures and rain raised the avalanche danger.

Condo owners along Lake Sammamish, about 12 miles east of Seattle, have seen water lapping at their doorways this week. Lakeside property owners are used to losing their docks underwater, but this year's heavy storms have rainwater pouring into the lake from every side. The Sammamish Slough is not big enough to handle the overflow.