Pacific Northwest drying after record weekend rain

The Pacific Northwest slowly dried out Monday after a weekend of record rainfall, but threats of landslides and flood warnings remained in western Washington.

Much of the Puget Sound region enjoyed clear skies a day after Seattle was soaked with more than 2 inches of rain, breaking an old record of 1.7 inches set in 1966 at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.

Snohomish County was among the hardest-hit areas, with dozens of homes damaged in Granite Falls, Arlington and Stanwood when the Stillaguamish River reached record levels Sunday. No deaths or serious injuries were reported.

Most of the storm damage was from landslides and flooding in low-lying rural areas. Geologist Isabelle Sarikhan with the state Department of Natural Resources said about 20 landslides were reported in western Washington, but dozens more probably occurred in the mountains.

The most serious blocked U.S. Highway 2 and the Burlington Northern Santa Fe tracks near Skykomish on Sunday, and a house was heavily damaged in Des Moines, south of Seattle. Due to slide danger, Amtrak suspended service in western Washington until Tuesday, although freight trains were running.

"The hills are already pretty soaked, so the threat of landslides is going to continue this whole week," Sarikhan said.

In Astoria, Ore., near the mouth of the Columbia River, a vacant city block collapsed after the weekend rain. No injuries were reported.

At one point during the weekend, flood warnings were posted for more than 20 rivers in Washington, but that was down to nine by midday Monday with all receding.

The National Weather Service warned that the Snoqualmie River could cause widespread flooding of pastureland and roads east of Seattle before it falls below flood stage early Tuesday.

High water damaged a number of roads, with more than 25 closed Monday in rural King County. In Kitsap County south of Bremerton, about 200 homes were isolated when a large chunk of the only road into the remote rural area collapsed atop a culvert Sunday afternoon, the Kitsap Sun reported.

Other records for the date set Sunday included 1.8 inches at Olympia, 1.61 inches at Bellingham, 1.18 inches at Port Angeles, 1.92 inches at Renton, and 3.1 inches at Shelton. More than 11 inches of rain fell over the weekend at Quinault on the Olympic Peninsula.

More rain was expected by early Tuesday, but far lighter than the weekend deluge, said meteorologist Dustin Guy at the weather service's Seattle office. Temperatures were forecast to drop to the 30s in western Washington and below freezing in eastern Washington by week's end.

A winter storm watch was posted for the Cascades through Tuesday with a foot and a half of new snow possible.