Gov. Inslee proclaims state of emergency following severe storms

SEATTLE — Another round of wild weather leaves its mark on Western Washington: thousands of customers are without power, relentless rain caused mudslides and flooding, and downed trees are strewn across the Puget Sound region. See updates for Thursday here.

Governor Jay Inslee proclaimed a state of emergency on Wednesday night in wake of the severe storms, including some that started on Nov. 30.

“There are people in need across Southwest Washington and the rest of the state and we’re here to provide whatever assistance the local communities require,” Inslee said. “We’re in this together.”

What you need to know:

• Lightning moved across Puget Sound
• Flood warnings for most rivers
• Tens of thousands of PSE customers without power
• See school closures and delays
• Get alerts with the KIRO 7 Weather App

Flooding

• Flood Warnings are in effect for most rivers in Western Washington. Major flooding is likely for many the main stem rivers, such as the Skagit, Snohomish, Snoqualmie and Tolt rivers.
• Seven homeless people had to be rescued from the Puyallup River after they were caught in the rising waters overnight.  Read story here.
• Chopper 7 flew over Chehalis, where many homes are surrounded by water.

• An RV park long the Puyallup River had to be evacuated after people were trapped.

• Some of the worst flooding that occurred in King County overnight is in Pacific, where the White River spilled over its banks. Homes and semis are nearly submerged there.  Butte Avenue East is closed by the high water. See raw video of a flood tour here.

• The flooding is also hitting people hard in east King County. Overnight, water started to spill into State Route 203, which is a lifeline for people in Carnation and Fall City.

>> PHOTOS: Torrential rain causes major flooding, mudslides and falling trees

• The Snoqualmie River has already cut off some roads and could flood homes before it finally crests Wednesday afternoon. Tolt Hill Road was flooded Tuesday night and some roads are only passable by boat.
• In Kalama in Cowlitz County, the downtown area was evacuated Tuesday night.  Some buildings have around 6 to 8 inches of water around them.
• Neighborhoods near Kent's Mill Creek dealt with street flooding that was rapidly approached homes Tuesday night.

Mudslides and rockslides

• Rockslide is blocking all lanes on northbound I-5 near the Portland border. The slide has closed NB 1-5 at Dike Road.

• A powerful mudslide occurred in Burien that destroyed one home and damaged another on Standring Lane just north of Seahurst Park. Click here to read more.
• SR 2 is closed just west of Leavenworth due to mudslides that are ten feet deep in some spots.
• US 12 is closed between Packwood and Naches because of debris.

• US 12 remains closed indefinitely from Packwood at the intersection of SR 123 to the Oak Creek Feeding Station near Naches. Local access is prohibited at this time for the safety of drivers.
• Skyway: 68th Avenue South is closed between MLK Jr Way/SR 900 and Beacon Coal Mine Road due to slide and power lines down
• Northline Sounder train canceled until Thursday after two mudslides went onto the tracks Sunday night.

In Kalama, rescue crews scrambled to save a man a deputy trapped between two landslides.

The deputy was on the way to help a homeowner whose home was wiped from its foundation when he got trapped. Search crews found them. Both were checked out by medical teams and are expected to be ok.

Downed trees

In Covington a man was nearly hit when three giant trees fell in the 26400 block of 171st Avenue Southeast. The tree crushed an outbuilding converted into living quarters, barely missing Ken Epps by feet. Epps said the wind was so bad he couldn't sleep, so he was up when three trees fell on the shed.

"Then all of a sudden, the earth moved and the tree came down and just missed me by feet and I could have perished in this but I didn't . I'm lucky to have an angel watching over me. I'm lucky to be alive," said Epps.

>>PHOTOS: Torrential rain causes major flooding, mudslides and falling trees

Many other downed trees have been reported across Western Washington.

Outages

Early Wednesday, 80,000 homes and businesses were without power in Puget Sound Energy's coverage area.  In the Newport area of Bellevue, there's a cluster of 5,000 outages.

Crews restored power to more than 60,000 customers by Wednesday night.

Tacoma Power is reporting 1,800 customers without power in the South Sound.

Forecast

The steady and heaviest rain is over for Western Washington, but there will still be some pockets of heavy showers, but they will be far more sporadic with sunbreaks in between.

"The strongest wind is over for now, but as I said it will stay breezy to windy today with wind around 15-25 mph and gusts around 30 mph.  As for the rain, I do expect that at times the showers could be heavy but they will be far more sporadic with sunbreaks in between the showers,"  said KIRO 7 meteorologist Nick Allard.

An isolated thunderstorm could occur as cool air moves into the upper levels. Anywhere from 4 to 9 inches of snow could fall in the central and north cascades Wednesday.

On Thursday, another round of rain and wind will move in with very windy weather at the coast and potentially strong wind over the Puget Sound region again.

For Friday, expect some scattered showers with sunbreaks and then another round of rain on Saturday.

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