By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – Emergency responders from Randle to Rochester are ramping down from a weekend on high alert for possible floods.
“Right now I’m moving the fire trucks from Adna school back down to the station, ’cause I’m thinking it’s done and over with,” Chief Bud Goodwillie of the rural Chehalis fire department said this morning.
It’s been nice and quiet, Goodwillie said.
Forecasters issued flood watches on Friday morning for much of Western Washington expecting a tremendous amount of rain, combined with high snow levels.
“The heavy rain did start in the southern parts but it moved to the northern parts,” National Weather Service meteorologist Johnny Burg said this morning.
Heavy rains of two to five inches fell over the lowlands and up to 10 inches came down in the mountains, according to the National Weather Service.
A flood warning remains in effect for the Chehalis River at Centralia through tomorrow morning but firefighters there and in Chehalis are relaxing a little, not having seen yet any effects of the rising waters. The weather service predicts the river will crest late there this afternoon near flood stage and could spill onto nearby pasture lands.
In the Boistfort Valley, the river levels are coming down, according to Fire Chief Gregg Peterson.
“All I heard from my people last night, it was not over any roads but was certainly getting in the fields,” Peterson said.
Pe Ell area Fire Chief Mike Krafczyk this morning said it didn’t cause any problems in the far west end of the county.
“I was monitoring all weekend and the ditches are holding,” Krafczyk said. “Stowe Creek was a good six to eight feet below its banks.”
The creek is known to spill over and run down Main Street when waterways get too high, he said.
Outside Randle, water did run over Peters Road, and also state Route 131 which turns into Forest Service Road 25. The latter road was closed this morning about a mile south of town, according to Lewis County Fire District 14 Chief Jeff Jaques.
Rochester-area Fire Chief Robert Scott reported a similarly uneventful weekend and returned to work as usual after the hearing latest weather reports.
“We were ready to ramp up Sunday morning, then we downsized,” Scott said.
The storm system that came through is what’s known a as Pineapple express, nicknamed that way because it brings lots and lots of moisture with connections to the tropics, like Hawaii, meteorologist Burg said.
“Very wet and very warm,” he said. “When we get those, not only do we get lots of rain, but the snow level is high and the mountains squeeze out water.”
They tend to occur here every couple of years, with the last most memorable one in December of 2007, he said.
Burg said weather watchers were looking at the system for about a week in advance, but what they couldn’t pin down was when and where the heavy rain would occur.
The troubling weather system is now well southeast of the state, the weather service reports.
However, there remains a continued risk of landslides in Western Washington, the National Weather Service cautioned this morning. Cumulative rains over the past three weeks have soaked the ground, contributing to soil instability.
“Several landslides have already been reported around Western Washington, and additional landslides are possible,” the weather statement reads. “A gradually diminishing risk of landslides will continue for several days.”
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This news story has been updated to reflect the correct name of Stowe Creek.
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter
Yes, Stowe Creek was the main culprit for the flooding of Pe Ell in December 2007. The Chehalis River had no effect upon the town insofar as flooding. The closest damage from the Chehalis during that period was about a mile north of Pe Ell where the logjam diverted the river and created a new riverbed, cutting off a gentleman’s property for about 10 acres. We live on a wide pasture on the South Pe Ell Prairie, and we were surrounded by water but never flooded. This latest “Pineapple Express” left us with 2″ of rain, several puddles, but NOTHING like 3 years ago. I hope the folks in the Twins and Grand Mound are doing well.
Sharyn,
It’s not Stove Creek, it is Stowe Creek.
I appreciate your forum and the excellent reporting!
Thank you! You do one heckuva better job than the Chron.