A combination of heavy rain and rapid snow melt caused widespread flooding on the North Olympic Peninsula on Wednesday with multiple road closures on the West End.
While a state of emergency was declared at 12:50 p.m. by two Clallam County commissioners in an emergency meeting, East Jefferson County was rainy but quiet.
The Port Townsend area, Quilcene and the west bank of Hood Canal were spared by the rain shadow effect of the Olympic Mountains, said Bob Hamlin, Jefferson County emergency manager.
“We dodged the bullet on this one,” Hamlin said.
By making the declaration, Clallam County becomes eligible for emergency state and federal funds.
Clallam County opened its Emergency Operations Center in Port Angeles to assist with flood response.
The center remained open through the night.
“We’ve been getting a lot of reports of a lot of road flooding, so there are problems throughout the county but predominantly on the West End,” said Bob Martin, manager of the Clallam County Emergency Management Department.
“It’s risky driving around, especially at night,” Martin said.
Major rivers flood
All the major rivers on the West End — the Bogachiel, Calawah, Hoko, Pysht, Clallam, Sekiu — surged past flood stage on Wednesday morning.
With about 15 inches of mountain rain and a freezing level close to 7,000 feet, the Bogachiel and Calawah rivers crested with their second-highest gauge heights on record.
A flood warning remained in effect for the Bogachiel River near LaPush late Wednesday.
The river crested at 41.6 feet at 10 a.m. on Wednesday. Flood stage is 37 feet.
Martin told commissioners Steve Tharinger and Mike Chapman that the worst of the flooding may have passed.
“I’m optimistic, at least, that they appear to have crested,” Martin said Wednesday afternoon.
Rain is forecast for the Peninsula early today, followed by gradual clearing, the National Weather Service said.
Partly sunny skies are forecast for Friday.
A flood warning remains in effect for both Clallam and Jefferson counties until 9:45 a.m. today.
High water damage
High water left considerable damage on Wednesday.
The bridge across Big River on Nichols Road washed out, stranding nine or 10 families near Hoko-Ozette Road.
About 60 customers in the area lost power at about 2:30 a.m. Wednesday. Power was restored by 6:30 p.m.
Residents there expressed no immediate need for evacuation or supplies, Martin said.
“They seem to be pretty self-reliant,” Martin said.
“They wanted to make sure we knew there was a problem.”
The entire communities of Neah Bay and LaPush were stranded by flooded roadways.
State Highway 112 was closed in both directions from Milepost 12 to Milepost 13 near Clallam Bay, cutting access to the Makah reservation at about 3:30 a.m.
Further to the east, the state Department of Transportation closed State Highway 112 in both directions from Milepost 23 to Milepost 29 because of standing water on the roadway.
Floods closed State Highway 110 between Forks and LaPush at about 1:25 a.m. The highway was closed between mileposts 7 and 9, where the Bogachiel overtook the roadway.
The Quileute tribe at LaPush requested sandbags to deal with localized flooding.
County crews were attempting to deliver the bags Wednesday afternoon.
Numerous county roads were impassable because of flooding.
Martin advised motorists to stay off the roads, if possible, and to heed traffic barricades.
Several people were rescued in restricted areas on Wednesday, Martin said.
Port Angeles road
In Port Angeles, a stretch of Canyon Edge Road was covered in 1 to 2 feet of water where it turns south off East Ahlvers Road.
Port Angeles Police Sgt. Glenn Roggenbuck was there at 9 p.m. to close the road.
It was not clear when the road would open.
Water was flowing across Lauridsen Boulevard at Lincoln Street in front of Albertsons.
In the emergency commissioner’s meeting, Chapman moved to enact the state of emergency and Tharinger seconded the motion.
No emergencies were declared in Jefferson County.
Most of the flood damage was isolated near the coast.
Hoh River
The Hoh River reached its full bank capacity around noon before slowly subsiding.
Jon Preston, Olympic National Park district ranger, drove the Upper Hoh Road on Wednesday and said it looked too susceptible to landslides.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if it failed in numerous locations,” Preston said.
Hamlin said a landslide damaged the Upper Hoh Road on county land west of Olympic National Park.
Some residents were stranded in the village on the Upper Hoh Road, Preston said.
Because of the heavy rain and dramatic terrain of the Olympic Peninsula, floods tend to come and go quickly, Martin said.
“It’s like flushing a toilet,” he said.
Wednesday’s case was different because of the massive amount of melting snow.
Rivers peaked longer than they typically do, Martin said.
Hurricane Ridge reported rain at 4 p.m. with a temperature of 32 degrees.
School closed
Cape Flattery was the only school district to close on Wednesday.
“The flooding was severe, and there were mudslides and many roads were closed,” Kandy Ritter, interim superintendent of Cape Flattery School District, said.
“We will try to resume school on Thursday, but I won’t know until much later.”
Ritter said she had to wait until low tide to get to the district office.
“So we could only stay here for about an hour, so we could make sure to get out of here,” she said.
“We had a lot of staff who were stranded.”
Basketball games for both Clallam Bay and Neah Bay high schools were canceled.
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Reporter Paige Dickerson contributed to this report.
Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
