Washington Flooding

I'm sure most of you have heard about the horrible flooding in this region from the wind and rain storm, but some may not. It started last weekend, and some areas around here are still inaccessible. My family was fine. No flooding at all where I live. Just big puddles around storm drains that made for some fun driving around town.

My mother-in-law lives in Winlock. She lost her mobile home. Her front yard turned into a raging river and it washed her home away. She was evacuated by the National Guard the day before it happened. She was able to get most of the valuables out of her home, but not everything. She is staying with family up north of us for now.

My brother-in-law lives in Pe Ell with his G/F and her son, and he lost his home as well. He was renting the place. It filled with water and now everything is ruined. They got out of the house as the water was coming in from his basement and filling the house. He grabbed two bags of clothes and important items and took off. The house is there, under 6'-8' of water right now. The town he lives in is only accessible by boat at the moment. He is at a Red Cross shelter.

My wife has some friends from her childhood who have owned and operated a dairy farm near Winlock since the 50's. It's been in the family since then. All of it is completely gone. All the cows were killed except a few, the barns are destroyed, their home was ruined, and floodwater has ruined everything else.

A 20 mile stretch of I-5, the main interstate freeway from Canada to Mexico, has been closed since Monday. The water that was as high as 10' is draining from the freeway, and revealing devastating damage to the freeway. I-5 opened this morning to commercial vehicles only. Someone estimated that it was costing our state economy $4,000,000 per day to have I-5 closed.

Here are some links to pictures of how bad things are..flooding, more flooding.

-Mike