Fallen leaves, falling rain leave traffic mess

By Sandi Doughton
Seattle Times staff reporter

	TOM REESE / THE SEATTLE TIMES Commuters ply the standing water on NE Ravenna Blvd. and NE 60th St., one of many places where autumn leaves and heavy rain tried unsuccessfully to flow into the same drains.
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The problem wasn't so much the 1.25 inches of rain that had fallen at SeaTac airport by 11 a.m., said Susan Stoltzfus of Seattle Public Utilities. It was the fallen leaves that clogged storm drains across the region, sending water gushing onto roads.

"We started getting calls when people were waking up this morning, around 5:30," she said. By late morning, the department had logged 200 complaints about standing water and blocked drains.

Portions of Mercer Street and southbound Aurora Avenue were closed for nearly an hour and a half, between 8:30 and 10 a.m. while crews dug leaves out of the drains.

"One of our employees was trapped on a bus on Aurora," Stoltzfus said. "They couldn't back backwards, and they couldn't go forward because the street was flooded."

For drivers in Seattle's North End, trying to cross the Ship Canal, the morning drive was an exercise in futility.

The backup on Aurora and stop-and-go traffic on Interstate 5 created a domino effect as drivers tried to find alternate routes. That turned the surrounding arterials north of the Fremont and Ballard Bridges into parking lots, too.

As late as 11 a.m., traffic was moving about one block every 15 minutes on Northwest Leary Way, which feeds both bridges.

Many drivers tired of the wait and pulled out of slow-moving queues to try their luck with residential side streets. But that didn't work either. Traversing the narrow streets of the Fremont neighborhood, where only one car can pass at a time, only prolonged the agony of the commute.

With steady rain forecast for the rest of the day, the evening commute is likely to be equally challenging.

"The heaviest rain is over the metro area now," National Weather Service meteorologist Mike McFarland said at about 11 a.m. "It's going to shut off eventually, but not for another 15 hours or so."

McFarland predicted the day's rainfall will total at least two inches.

The previous record for the day at SeaTac airport was 1.28 inches in 1955.

An additional rockslide occurred overnight on Highway 20 across the North Cascades, blocking an emergency access lane that had been cleared after a previous rockslide buried the road Sunday, Nov. 9. Last night's slide measures 15 to 20 feet high and 40 feet wide.

State and federal agencies are working to clear the blockage.

No other mudslides were reported in Seattle or King County, but the continued rain combined with saturated soils make the danger high.

In north King County, the Tolt and Snoqualmie rivers were beginning to spill over their banks in places, said Rochelle Ogershok, county spokeswoman. Two roads were closed because of the flooding: Old Cascade Highway at Miller River Road in the Skykomish area and Southeast Reinig Road at Meadowbrook Bridge and Millpond Road.

Flooding from the Snoqualmie is expected to become widespread from the town of Snoqualmie downstream through Fall City, Carnation and Duvall.

The Tolt is expected to flood Tolt River Road.

Seattle's Public Utilities department was also closely monitoring Meadowbrook Pond, a large detention pond in northeast Seattle's Lake City neighborhood. Though the pond wasn't expected to spill over, the south branch of Thornton Creek in the area is likely to flood, Stoltzfus said.

"There will be people who get water in their basements."

The rain will continue through the day and evening, before moving toward Oregon by tomorrow morning, McFarland said. At 11, the total rainfall at Snoqualmie Pass since midnight was 3.25 inches. At Mount Baker, the total was 1.6 inches, but the rain had changed to snow by mid-morning.

In Snohomish County

Several county roads in East Snohomish County were under water but still open this morning, said Steve Pratt, the county's director of road maintenance.

The Skykomish River had pushed water over Ben Howard and Mann Roads, both in the Sultan area, he said. South of Snohomish, Old Monroe Snohomish Road was under water because of flooding near the confluence of the Pilchuck and Snohomish rivers, he said.

Several urban streets in unincorporated areas of southwest Snohomish County also suffered flooding overnight due to plugged culverts and clogged catch basins, mostly due to fallen leaves, Pratt said.

The Skykomish River at Gold Bar was running about 3½ feet above flood stage and was expected to crest at 4 feet above flood stage this morning, said Mike McCallister, coordinator of the Snohomish County Emergency Management Center. However, the river's level appeared to be dropping further downstream so he didn't expect major problems in he Monroe or Snohomish areas.

The Snohomish River was also running high, although an actual level wasn't immediately available.

Drainage problems caused flooding of several major roads in Lynnwood this morning.

Police briefly closed Alderwood Mall Boulevard near the Marshall's store because of deep water on the road until public works employees removed leaves from catch basins and storm drains around 9 a.m., said Les Rubstello, transportation manager.

Scriber Creek was running over 44th Avenue West near 208th Street Southwest. Plugged drainage systems caused water to pool on Alderwood Mall Parkway in the 18100 block and on 60th Avenue West at Dale Way.

Monroe officials reported a mud slide from heavy rains at Woods Creek Road. About 2,500 customers lost power last night and early this morning (11.18) due to weather conditions, the Snohomish County Public Utility District reported.

Power outages were reported at about 11 p.m. last night and another at 3 a.m. today in southern Snohomish County near Edmonds.

Although a handful of customers are still powerless, most of the power was restored within an hour of outages, PUD officials said.

The Skagit River near Mount Vernon was almost 10 feet below flood stage at 10:30 a.m. this morning, according to U.S. Geological Survey data. Only the Nooksack River at Deming was close to flooding this morning with waters about 18 inches below flood stage.

Diane Brooks, Christopher Schwarzen and Lynn Thompson, Seattle Times reporters, also contributed to this report.

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