Floods close I-5 for up to 3 days

Flooding on Interstate 5 has forced the state to close the freeway to all traffic from Grand Mound, south of Olympia, to Chehalis.

The main transportation artery from Portland to Canada was expected to be closed up to three days.

The freeway will remain closed for at least 36 hours and likely longer while crews wait for the Chehalis River to recede.

This is the first complete freeway closure due to flooding in this area since 1996.

The DOT suggests these detour routes:

From the Portland area: East on Oregon's Interstate 84 then north on Highway 82 to the Tri-Cities and Yakima and then west on Interstate 90 to Seattle — a roughly 440 mile route compared to roughtly 176 miles between Seattle and Portland on I-5.

From the Seattle area: Seattle to Portland drivers will follow I-90 to Yakima and then south on Highway 97 to west on Oregon's I-84 to Portland.

While there are surface roads around the I-5 closure, the state DOT is not recommending motorists take those routes. Some of the roads, for example, cannot handle large commercial vehicles.

Northbound traffic on I-5 was diverted onto Highway 12, which connected with Highways 97 and I-90 into Seattle. Southbound traffic was diverted onto Highway 97, which connected with I-90 and Highway 12.

Highway 522 in both directions near the interchange with Highway 405 has also been closed due to flood damage.

Trains:

Rail traffic was interrupted and buses were slowed this morning because of heavy rain and mudslides.

Sound Transit's Sounder train from Everett to Seattle was shut down this morning because of slides. Spokesman Bruce Gray said he was not optimistic that service would resume this afternoon.

He didn't know whether the 48-hour rule will be invoked, a federal law that says in the case of mudslides trains have to wait 48 hours to resume passenger service.

Due to the disruption of Sounder train service between Everett and Seattle, Community Transit will provide additional bus service from Everett Station to downtown Seattle Tuesday to accommodate Sounder passengers.

Buses will leave Everett Station at 6:12, 6:42 and 7:12 a.m. These buses will run as express service to Seattle, and will not stop at the Eastmont Park & Ride or the Edmonds Train Station. Community Transit supervisors will be at Everett Station to direct train riders to the Seattle buses.

Amtrak shut down its service from Seattle to Portland because of slides near Vancouver and fallen trees along the route, said spokesman Gus Melonas. It won't resume for 48 hours, or until 2:30 a.m. Wednesday. Freight service was also slowed, he said.

There also is no train service north of Seattle to Vancouver, B.C., because of a planned maintenance shutdown, Melonas said. But that situation was aggravated by a washout in Mukilteo.

Passengers aboard the westbound Amtrak train from Chicago are being taken off the train in Wenatchee and bused to Seattle.

Metro buses:

Metro reported bus delays this morning, which isn't unusual in this kind of weather, said spokeswoman Rochelle Ogershok. She said there is a lot of standing water on many roads and buses have to take detours, which slows them down. "Clearly when it's like this, you have to expect transit delays," she said.

Elsewhere:

A snowslide temporarily closed westbound Interstate 90 at Ellensburg, but the interstate reopened by about 3 p.m.

State highway officials also closed Highway 2 in both directions this morning because of avalanche danger. The road was closed from six miles west of the Stevens Pass summit, near Skykomish, all the way to Leavenworth, where avalanches have been reported at Tumwater Canyon.

Seven inches of snow fell at Stevens Pass this morning, and then it started raining, said Jeff Adamson, a Transportation Department spokesman. That will help melt the 2 feet of snow that fell on the pass over the weekend.

Passenger-only ferry service on the Port Townsend-Keystone run was suspended due to the bad weather.

There were road closures throughout the Seattle area because of standing water and mudslides, affecting commuters.

Susan Gilmore: 206-464-2054 or sgilmore@seattletimes.com