By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – A flood watch issued on Thursday for most of Western Washington warning of small stream flooding and possibly worse remains in place for counties including Lewis, Thurston, Pierce, Grays Harbor, Mason and King.
The city of Centralia this afternoon declared a local emergency in reference to the continued rainfall.
Moderate to heavy rain is expected to continue for the next 12 hours, causing localized flooding,” Police Chief Carl Nielsen stated in a news release. “At this time the city is monitoring China Creek.
“The city is also watching the river level and at this time the rivers are not expected to reach flood stage.”
A single sand bag station will be operational by 2 p.m. in the 100 block of Center Street. That’s at Pearl Street near the downtown fire station.
Early this morning the National Weather Service indicated the heaviest rain is expected over the Mount Rainier area with another two and half to three inches predicted to fall over the next 12 hours.
The current model from the weather service shows minor to moderate flooding on the Cowlitz River in East Lewis County, peaking between tonight and Sunday morning.
The U.S. Forest Service yesterday warned recreationists the event known as a Pineapple Express would result in substantial runoff from small streams draining Mount St. Helens and Mount Adams and could trigger dangerous landslides and debris flows.
Mount Rainier National Park said visitor access will be impacted and evacuations could become necessary.
“Travel in the park is discouraged until the storm passes,” Park Superintendent Randy King stated.
A winter storm watch remains in effect at higher locations including White Pass until Monday morning. The first significant snowfall of the season is expected later in the weekend and travelers should prepare for slippery roadways and poor visibility, according to the weather service.
“The heavy rain will come to an end from north to south this afternoon into the early evening hours as the front moves south of the area,” forecasters state.
The weather services recommends the public monitor their latest forecast and be ready to act quickly if a flood warning is issued, or if flooding is observed.
The link for the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Seattle can be found here and also always on the right hand column of this page, labeled “Weather Alerts, forecasts”
The link for the National Weather Service’s river level observation and forecast for Western Washington can be found here and also always on the right hand column of this page, labeled “River levels”
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter
The flood danger has passed for now. Too early in the season for a serious flood. Hopefully it was not a sign of things to come as the upper Cowlitz reached minor flood stage Saturday night. In Late November or December if a few feet of wet snow gets pumped into the Cascades followed by a few days of the warm monsoon like we have just had, we would have a major flood circa December 2006.
or a Fred Meyer in Centralia, no wait-we are not suppose to know about that, at least the Port does not want to know who there secret anchor store will be…..right
Flooding doesnt happen in chehalis,… lets build a Costco.