Torrential rain on the Twin Harbors throughout the weekend caused flooding and mudslides, including one at the bluff near the east entrance to Aberdeen that closed all four lanes of Highway 12.
Vehicles were forced to detour around to Highway 101 and Highway 107 to get in and out of town. This morning, a mudslide on 107 blocked one lane of that road.
Schools and many businesses were closed throughout the area.
According to Hoquiam Police, at least two houses were knocked off their foundations after a slide on Beacon Hill. Police advised some residents on Queets Avenue to leave their homes due to the conditions.
Business owners were piling up sandbags in downtown Aberdeen this morning in an attempt to hold off whatever water they could. Water filled most downtown streets from curb to curb and most businesses were closed.
High tide could exacerbate the flooding and is expected around 1 p.m. Monday What low tide will bring in terms of flooding is uncertain, however, the worst of the rainfall has passed.
“We’re expecting the hydrologically significant precipitation to taper significantly by noon,” National Weather Service in Seattle Meteorologist Chris Burke said Monday morning.
As of Monday at 8:30 a.m., nearly 7 inches of rain had fallen in at the Hoquiam weather station in a 24-hour period. More than a half inch of rain fell between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. And more than a foot of rain had fallen in the Quinault area, the National Weather Service said.
Ocean Shores saw nearly 5 inches, and Copalis Beach had nearly 6 inches.
An official weather station at Black Knob on the Quinault Reservation recorded 12 and a half inches.
“That’s the winner,” Burke said. “It has contributed to some of the urban flooding in Grays Harbor.”
Flooding throughout the county can be attributed to low-lying areas and precipitation, rather than river flooding, but rivers are expected to be hear flooding by the end of the rain.
Satsop could touch flood stage and the Wynoochie River will crest below flood stage.
The Queets River, north of the Quinault Reservation, had crested and was running at about 70,000 cubic feet per second early Monday morning. “That’s a huge number,” Burke said.
Colder-than-average temperatures over the region were met with a warm front coming in from the Pacific with subtropical moisture. The atmosphere became warmer and took on more water vapor which then precipitated out.
For comparison, on Saturday, Hoquiam saw a high of 41 degrees, and as of Monday morning, temps were in the 50s. Additionally, the freezing level was at 3,300 feet as of 4 p.m. Saturday, but reached more than 10,000 feet as of 4 a.m. on Monday.
“That’s a dramatic warming of the atmosphere,” Burke said.
“For the most part, the damage is done and the significant rain has fallen,” Burke said.
Chuck Wallace, Grays Harbor Emergency Management deputy director, is helping first responders deal with the impacts.
“There were extreme amounts of rain over the last 24-36 hours, causing numerous landslides and water on many city streets,” Wallace confirmed on Monday. “At this time the County Emergency Operations Center is staffed in Montesano and is working to assist all local jurisdictions through the end of the rain event.”
Road closures as of Monday morning include:
- Aberdeen Bluff on Highway 12
- Highway 101 at milepost 73
- Highway 101 south of Ocean Beach Road
- Highway 109 in Moclips at the river
- Moclips Highway at milepost 9
- Highway 109 bypass
- East Satsop Road at milepost 5.3
- Wishkah Road at milepost 6
- East Aberdeen Streets
- Beacon Hill in Hoquiam
- 2500 block of Queets Road in Hoquiam
- Johns River Road at milepost 2
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