(The following article by John Dodge was posted on the Olympian website on January 17.)
OLYMPIA, Wash. — All rivers in Thurston County dropped below flood stage Monday, but the wet weather continued to take a toll when a mudslide halted passenger Amtrak train service from Seattle to Portland.
The slide occurred around 1 p.m. just northeast of Lacey, said Gus Melonas, spokesman for Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad, which owns the tracks.
Amtrak was arranging bus service to transport passengers who already were en route to Seattle and Portland on Monday, and today’s trains were canceled, Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari said.
A 48-hour precautionary closure of Amtrak service will be in effect until 1 p.m. Wednesday.
The current round of storms could bring flooding back to South Sound and other parts of Western Washington, according to a flood watch issued Monday by the National Weather Service.
Flooding on the Skookumchuck River near Bucoda was predicted for much of today, dropping below flood stage overnight. Flooding on the Chehalis River near Grand Mound was predicted by this afternoon.
But the Nisqually and Deschutes rivers were not expected to climb above flood stage today.
The Skokomish River in Mason County was expected to crest above flood stage around 10 a.m. today, with floodwaters predicted to inundate much of the farmland in the Skokomish Valley, some homes and possibly U.S. Highway 101 and state Route 106, according to the weather service.
Emergency management officials are keeping a watchful eye on all rivers in Thurston County, noted county emergency manager Kathy Estes.
“Predicting the flooding is not a precise science,” she said. So much depends on the severity of the rainstorms, she said.
Road closures that remained in effect in south county included portions of 183rd Avenue Southwest, 188th Avenue Southwest, Moon Road Southwest and Trevue Avenue in the Scott Lake community where a creek flowing out of the lake continued to have trouble draining into the Black River, which feeds into the flood-choked Chehalis River.
“That could be a long-term problem,” Estes said of the Scott Lake floodwaters.
No one’s access to their home is cut off by the Scott Lake flooding, and the community water system well is not affected by the standing water, she said.
But some individual on-site septic systems might be damaged by the flooding there, she said.
The spate of flooding and landslides prompted Gov. Christine Gregoire to declare a state of emergency in 12 counties Friday. Damage statewide is estimated at $7.3 million.
Rail freight service resumed after railroad crews cleared the slide, which measured 3 feet deep and 40 feet long, covering two sets of tracks, Melonas said.
It took crews about a half hour to clear one set of tracks and an hour and a half to clear the other, Melonas said.
North of Seattle, a mudslide shut down passenger rail service between Seattle and Everett on Saturday — for the third time in more than a week.
The tracks were cleared for freight trains early Sunday, and Melonas said the typical 48-hour precautionary passenger train closure would expire Monday evening.