Winds whipped through most of the North Olympic Peninsula on Monday, and melting snow with drenching rain rose rivers toward flood levels.
Monday’s highest winds were reported at Clallam Bay, with gusts ripping through the town at 90 mph.
Winds are expected to be calmer today, and rivers are expected to recede.
“There will be numerous showers and it will be breezy but not as windy as [Monday],” said Johnny Burg, a forecaster for the National Weather Service in Seattle.
“Through the Peninsula, it will be mostly cloudy with a chance of showers – but the winds will calm down.”
On the East End of the Peninsula, U.S. Highway 101 remained closed south of Brinnon, where a house was knocked off its foundation by floodwaters from a nearby creek.
On the West End, U.S. 101 was also closed at Lake Crescent and at Bear Creek near Sappho.
State Highway 110 between Forks and LaPush on the Pacific coast also was closed by floodwaters.
“We don’t have any times when these routes will reopen,” said Karri Workman, state Department of Transportation spokeswoman.
Power was lost to about 6,000 Clallam County customers on the West End.
East Jefferson County power customers were luckier, although about 500 near Brinnon were reported without electricity until evening at the earliest.
By late afternoon, about 1,000 around Joyce had power restored, but customers in Forks, Neah Bay, Clallam Bay, Sekiu, and LaPush were likely to have no power through the night.
Most of those communities were without telephone service as well.
“We have two contract crews who came in from out of town, and we borrowed one crew from the city of Port Angeles,” said David Proebstel, chief engineer for the Clallam County Public Utilities District, which provides power to the West End.
Here is a rundown of storm-related problems in affected North Olympic Peninsula communities:
