U.S. Highway 101 at Lake Crescent near Sol Duc Hot Springs Road will close again today at 9 a.m., after being open to one-lane alternating traffic with a pilot car overnight.
Flooding on Monday caused mudslides and flooded highways that cut off the West End from the rest of the state.
Highway 101 south of Forks at milepost 185 near the Clallam/West Jefferson County line has been partially reopened to one-lane of alternating traffic.
The highway at Lake Crescent had been opened overnight Wednesday into Thursday morning and then open Thursday afternoon to Friday morning before it was closed again for crews from the state Department of Transportation (DOT) to continue to work on clearing the road of debris and water.
Crews will reopen the road to the pilot car escort later today, however, a specific time had not been announced as of 3:45 p.m. Thursday.
Up-to-date road conditions and closures can be found at DOT’s Twitter feed, @wsdot_tacoma.
State Highway 112 continues to be closed west of Joyce, but the closures are down to two areas instead of three. Crews continue to work on cleaning and evaluating the landslide at milepost 15.8, and the road is also closed at milepost 32.
The Clallam Bay water reserve is drained, and officials will have a water refilling station at the Clallam Bay Library at 16990 state Highway 112 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Nicole Hartman, communications manager for the Clallam County Public Utility District (PUD), said Thursday morning.
Clallam Bay residents can bring buckets, 2-liter bottles and other receptacles they need to get water for a day or so, she said.
Officials will continue to truck more water in, as it is expected to take several more days before PUD officials will be able to reconnect Clallam Bay to water service. As of Thursday afternoon, officials were still working on a volunteer schedule for the weekend times for the filling station, Hartman said.
The main obstacle to restoring water service in the area is the water main that was broken by a landslide at milepost 15.8 on Highway 112, Hartman said. There is no estimated time when officials will be able to begin repairs, she said.
Officials understand some Clallam Bay residents will be helping to get water for less-able neighbors and family members, sot they’re asking people “be on the honor system” so they can make sure there is enough water for everyone, Hartman said.
Sekiu residents have had water service restored after PUD personnel brought the Hoko Pump Station back online late Wednesday afternoon.
The mudslide’s damage to the water main had cut off the supply of fresh water. Volunteer pilots with the Disaster Aircraft Response Team (DART) brought in bottled water for residents on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Sekiu water customers are under a boil-water advisory until further notice, according to a notice posted by the PUD.
As of 4 p.m. Thursday, 472 Clallam PUD customers were without electrical power, with most — 469 — between Port Angeles and Sequim. A broken power line was expected to be fixed by about 7 p.m. Thursday, according to the PUD.
One outage was reported by the Jefferson County PUD.
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Jefferson County reporter Zach Jablonski can be reached at 360-385-2335, ext. 5, or at [email protected]
