Remember that scene above? Unfortunately, it’s going to happen again.
As if the Floods of 1996 and 2007 weren’t enough, it is looking like Lewis County, Washington is going to be inundated once again. I wonder how communities situated by the Chehalis, Skookumchuck and Cowlitz rivers will fare. Longview/Kelso could be in for it too.
An approaching rainstorm — unseasonably warm, at that — will melt much of the gigantic snowfall in the Cascades and bring rain to the valleys, creating a scenario much like last year, in which Interstate 5 was inundated with water that I would have sank in, and I’m 6′3″.
It’s actually projected to be worse. From the Centralia Chronicle:
New models by the National Weather Service indicate that an incoming storm could cause record flooding across Lewis County beginning tomorrow night.
Both the Skookumchuck River and the Newaukum River are forecast to surpass their record highs, while the Chehalis River is predicted to peak just one foot lower than the December 2007 floods. The Cowlitz River at Randle is predicted to surpass 2006 flood levels by three feet.
All four rivers are predicted to begin rising rapidly tonight with peaks occurring Thursday night. The Cowlitz River at Packwood is expected to peak at moderate flood stage Thursday morning.
The Skookumchuck River at Pearl Street in Centralia is expected to reach 88 feet, one foot above the 1996 flood that inundated the downtown.
The city of Centralia is declaring a local state of emergency effective Wednesday morning, which will allow individuals to obtain sand and sandbags for private property protection. A distribution center will be open as of 8:30 a.m. Wednesday at the Centralia Street Department shop located on Reynolds Road between the Fords Prairie Grange and the Fords Prairie Elementary School.
Hang tight, Twin Towns. This guy’s got friends and family up there and he’s praying for ya.
It’s also expected to get ugly in other areas of Oregon and Washington as well. Portland and any areas there with unstable hills face the threat of mudslides on top of flooding, and I also wonder how Vernonia (just 20 miles from where I grew up) will fare this time around as well, especially with people there still living in FEMA trailers.
This could be bad, but let’s all hope and pray that it’s not.
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